


With Love, From Hell

by GracelessTevy



Series: The Tevy Saga [3]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Archangel Gabriel (Supernatural), Crowley and Feelings, Demons, F/M, Fallen Angels, Hell, Hellhounds, Lucifer's Cage, Nice Lucifer, Protective Lucifer, Strippers & Strip Clubs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-16
Updated: 2014-09-16
Packaged: 2018-02-17 16:16:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 41,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2315720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GracelessTevy/pseuds/GracelessTevy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Co-Op Written Part Three of the Tevy Saga by GracelessTevy and DancingCat93 on Tumblr</p><p>Tevy meets the angel Beth after Heaven's gates are shut.  Beth struggles with humanity and Tevy shows her the ropes with the help of Crowley.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Confused Identities

Beth sighed deeply and twirled a piece of her hair absentmindedly as she dreamed of the days when it had all been so easy. After the fall from Heaven…she wasn’t sure what to do, who to turn to. All her brothers and sister were mobilizing in factions, some with Malachi, some with Bartholomew(who by the way, was now dead), and all of them had strangers faces. For a while, she followed Bart, but all the violence that he’d condoned had felt….so wrong. So she had left and been forced into hiding, since he didn’t let her go easily.

She was spending time among the homeless of her father’s world, the downtrodden…ones who in many ways were also her brothers and sisters, even though they were humans. Then again, if it weren’t for her grace, she’d be the absolute same as them. She listened silently to the myriad of voices of the gentle and kind humans around her, and hesitantly turned on angel radio in her head, wincing slightly as the voices and cries of her brothers and sisters bombarded her inner ear. After a few minutes she turned it off again, and massaged her head. Listening to angel radio gave her a headache nowadays.

  
  


One after the other, her heavy boots clomped onto the wet pavement.  Hood up, hands in her pockets, Tevy trudged down the sidewalk, cars rushing past her on the street.  Unseen to the mortal eye, her faithful companion padded swiftly next to her.  Spud had grown a little since he had been gifted to her by the King, he was about as tall as her knees now.  The sky was opened up for a moment as the rain paused.  She looked up.  The storm clouds didn’t stop there, the rain would start again.  Not that she really minded.  Thunder clapped as a car ran through a huge puddle next to her, soaking her with nasty gutter water.

“Fucker!!!”  Tevy called out after the man as he sped away, “I hope you fall in a pothole, ya douche bag!!”  She looked down at herself and scoffed.  Every inch of her was covered in water.  Tevy rolled her eyes and ducked into an alleyway and leaned against the wall in the darkness.  Spud planted his rump at her feet.  As Tevy lit up a smoke, she glanced around her.  3 or 4 homeless people seemed to of made this alleyway home but none seemed to mind her presence.  Just in case, she reached into her hoodie and fingered Gabriel’s angel blade, making sure it was there and ready in case one of them decided she didn’t belong there.

 

Beth’s eyes flickered slightly towards the newcomer, a woman with black hair, and barely noticed the dog at her feet, but then she stiffened, focusing in on the dog. Was that…a hellhound? Her breath caught in her chest slightly, and as a car passed, the light caused the woman’s form to cast a shadow against one of the dingy walls, and she saw the slight shapes of stubs…wings? Or what used to be wings? Beth frowned slightly in confusion.

“Wait, she’s…an angel? But she has a hellhound? Who is this person?” She mused quietly to herself. She slipped one hand into her oversized jacket that one of her homeless acquaintances had given a few days prior, when they’d found her shivering in a doorway, and grasped her angel blade…just in case. “Who knows what faction she belongs to…”

 

Tevy pulled a drag on her cig and looked up from the ground.  She felt someone’s eyes watching her and steered her gaze towards a homeless girl in a big, ratty jacket who had been looking at her.  Spud turned his attention to the being who noticed him, his ears going alert.  She let her cat stick hang on her lips, on hand occupied on her blade, the other dug her pack of smokes out of her pocket and lifted it up, silently offering one to the stranger who was watching her.

 

Beth eyed the stranger warily, and slowly slid from her ledge to walk over and take the proffered cigarette. “Thanks,” She said in her quiet voice, and brushed her matted waist-length red hair out of her eyes as much as she could. She withdrew her hand from inside of her jacket, relaxing slightly, but still on guard. “Do you have a light? I’m afraid I lost my lighter somewhere..” She kept a wary eye on the dog, whom she sure would guard his mistress at a word from her.

 

Tevy smiled, digging in her jacket and holding out a lighter for her.  “Names Tevy.”

 

Beth nodded, taking the lighter and lighting, and took a deep drag from the cigarette. She sighed the smoke out in a slow breath and grinned slightly. “Nice to meet you. I’m Beth.” She handed the lighter back, and looked down at the dog again. It was sitting close by Tevy’s legs, and watching Beth closely, like it was interested by her. She motioned to the dog casually. “Interesting dog you’ve got there. You rich or something? Or just good contacts?”

 

Tevy hesitated and looked down at Spud.  “So you can see him?  Damn, I thought you just really liked my boots,” she chuckled and rubbed her dog’s head, “Naw, he… he was a gift.”

 

Beth cursed inwardly. “Stupid stupid! There goes any chance of acting human. At least she hasn’t figured out -what- I am yet.” She laughed slightly. “Some gift! You must be favored by someone. But anyways, I do like your boots too, though I prefer Doc Martins. But being in my situation doesn’t really lend itself to much fashion choice.” She took another drag on the cigarette, pondering. A cat wandered up to her from farther down the alleyway, a familiar meow touching her ears. She smiled and bent down, picking up the tabby, and began to pet it. The cat was anxious, not easy, though she wasn’t sure if it was because the cat could sense the hellhound, or because the cat’s belly was large with unborn kittens. Beth stroked gently under the cats chin gently, and chuckled slightly. “Animals are interesting sometimes, huh?”

 

“I honestly think they are a hundred times better than people.” Tevy smiled looking at her pet, “Oh, and yeah, I love Docks too.  These are fuckin’ jump boots and I’m telling you I am beginning to wonder if they actually killed more ankles than they saved serving their purpose!”  Tevy looked at the cat in Beth’s arms and then to it’s tummy.  Tevy sighed, “She been hangin’ round this alleyway?”

 

Beth continued to pet the young mother’s ears. “Sure has. She’s been showing up near me for the last week or so. She’s quite the little lioness, I tell ya. Pretty good mouser too. Haven’t had any rodents in my stash of food in a while. That is, whenever I manage to have enough food to stash.” The cat purred loudly, making Beth giggle slightly. She brushed her bangs out of her eyes again and faced Tevy. “So what brings you down this dreary alley, anyways?”

 

“Just on my way home from…work.”  Tevy’s brow furrowed as she felt the cat’s forehead.  “Shes weak… and her kittens won’t survive out here, not this deep in the slums.  If the coyotes or crows don’t grab then, the ruthless, nasty excuses for children who live around here will.”  Tevy sighed and Spud stood up, turning towards the street, sensing his master’s decision before she even voiced it.  “We can bring her to my place where she will safe, plus its warm and dry, which is something I would really like to be right now!!”  She laughed, looking at her still dripping hoodie.  “Come on, you’re coming too, you don’t have a choice.”  She turned her back to the stranger and began walking out of the alley, flicking the butt of her cig onto the ground.

 

Beth froze slightly, taken by surprise. She shook herself slightly and she smiled widely. “I…thank you!” She ran back to her ledge, dropping her cigarette in the street forgetfully and grabbed her only possession in this world, her tattered bag/purse/thing. She slung the strap across her chest, and shifted the blankets around inside it to create a small nest, which she set the mother cat in. The tired cat protested slightly, then settled down and fell asleep quickly. Beth caught up with Tevy quickly, and walked beside her, carrying her purse in her arms, to minimize jostling the cat. “So…how’d you get so wet? It’s not raining…did you take an unexpected bath or something?”

 

Tevy smirked.  “Something like that.”  She winked and laughed, “Chicago is full of assholes and idiot drivers.”  She lead Beth a few blocks down to an old apartment building and up about 10 flights of stairs.  She pulled out her keys as they got to her unit and let them in.  It was a roomy little apartment.  Big living room with a huge purple couch and a coffee table next to a tattered up lazy boy.  The kitchen was pretty much in the same room, separated by an island counter top.  the only other rooms seemed to be threw two different doorways.  A bathroom and a small bedroom.  

 

Spud bounded into their home and began rubbing his face on the carpet happily trying to dry himself off.  Tevy smiled and shook her head, walking into the kitchen and setting down her hoodie on the counter top, exposing the huge black bruise on her neck and the scratches on her chest.  She pushed all of her hair to one side so her shaved scalp could breath.  As she leaned down to take off her wet boots, she heard Spud knock into the coffee table, something falling to the floor.  She looked up to see the framed photo of her and her “brothers” fallen onto the floor, glass shattered.  “Oh, come on, dude!”

 

Beth stepped hesitantly into the room. “Wow…” She soaked in the atmosphere of the room like a starved flower. “You’ve got a nice place…” She took off her shoes just inside the door, careful to track as little dirt on the floor as she could. The cat in her purse meowed loudly, and she turned her attention to her, petting her absently as she looked around curiously. She noticed the fallen picture frame. “Is that your family?” The young hellhound bounded up to her, and she froze slightly for a minute as he sniffed her.

 

“Oh,” she sighed, walking over and picking it up.  She flipped it over and carefully picked the broken glass from the frame, standing next to Beth.  The photo was a ‘selfie’ she had taken of herself, with Balthazar over her shoulder, licking her face and Gabriel over the other shoulder, Kissing her cheek and smirking.  She sighed looking at it.  “Yeah, family…  Not really blood but the tall skinny one was like a brother to me.  The other was… Well…”  Tevy set the photo down on the coffee table and took the glass to the kitchen without finishing her sentence.

 

“I see…” Beth looked down at her raggedy clothes and grimaced slightly. “I don’t want to sit down anywhere…I’m so dirty, I’d get grime all over her stuff…” She followed Tevy into the kitchen, and the cat meowed again loudly. “Um…can I borrow a bowl or something? I think she’s getting hungry or thirsty or something…I have some cat food in my bag, but some asshat stole my bowl yesterday that I had for her.”

 

Tevy shook herself out of her trance.  “Oh, yeah give her to me, I’ll take care of her.”  She grabbed a laundry basket from her closet and stuck some towels in it.  “She needs kitten food to nurture her babies but what you have will be fine until i can get to the store.”  Tevy held out a towel for Beth, “Here, while I’m setting her up, you want a shower?”

 

Beth stared at the towel, not immediately registering what it was. “Shower….oh yeah! Shower, get cleaned up. Yeah.” She blushed deeply, berating herself for not remembering. She gently lifted the cat out of her purse and set her in the basket, making sure that she was comfy, then dug in her purse for the ziplock of cat food, which she handed to Tevy. She accepted the towel, and found her way to the bathroom. At the door she turned around again, facing Tevy. “Really…thank you. It’s been a while since…I’ve had any of these luxuries. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.”

 

Tevy smiled and took the cat food, pouring it into a bowl and placing it in the basket with the momma cat.  She lifted the basket and placed it in the closet, petting the cats head softly as she purred, crawling towards the food.  She heard the bathroom door lock with a click and she stood and turned around.  Her heart jumped and she almost shrieked.  Crowley was standing right behind her.

“Hello, Duckie.” He said.

“No,” Tevy hissed, “No, not tonight, Crowley you can’t be here…”

“Oh come now, pet,” Crowley laughed as Tevy pushed him to the balcony door.

“I mean it!  Theres someone in my house, she can see Spud, I can’t tell what she is but… Just leave please!”

“Ooh, a new friend?  I had no idea you even had any of those, love.”  Crowley wouldn’t budge as Tevy tried to shove him out the door.

Tevy groaned, “You’re such a pain!  You better not get me in trouble!”

Crowley smirked and leaned against the door, crossing his arms.  It was clear he wasnt going anywhere.

 

Beth relaxed in the shower, letting the warm water soak through her hair and gently work out all the knots that had been in her vessel’s back since day one. She sighed in satisfaction, feeling like she was being almost purified from her troubles, baptistized in the mere glory of being clean for the first time since she fell from Heaven.

“So what now?” She thought. “Will I stay with this..Tevy til my cat has had her kittens, then move on? Will I stay with her if she’s one of the good angels? She seems nice enough…hasn’t mentioned any of the factions yet…and she doesn’t seem like the other angels.” Her eyes flickered in pleasure as she continued to wash the grime away. She brought her clothes in, and washed them in the shower with her, the dirt streaming in almost mudlike sheets from the edges. She hung them from the shower rack to drip dry, and turned the shower off,  grabbing the towel and cinching it around her body as she got ready to attack the matted mess that was her hair.

 

Crowley shut his eyes and seemed to listen to the universe.  “What are you doing, Crowley…”  Tevy sighed, getting pissy with the fact that he was still there.

“I’m getting Angel.” Crowley said, softly, still listening, “but…. there seems to be a hint of demon in her too… odd…”  He started to walk towards the bathroom.

“NO!!” Tevy ran and stood in front of him, grabbing a marker and scribbling on both of her palms.  “Don’t you even…”  Crowley pushed past her again and she darted back in front of him, putting a hand on either side of his head.  He tried to move farther but his body wouldn’t let him.

“Really…” Crowley look completely unamused, “Did you just draw demon traps on your fuckin hands?”

“Well it worked didn’t it?” Tevy smiled as she tightened her grip on his head and walked him out the front door.  “Goodbye, Crowley!!”  She slammed the door and whispered a few demon warding words quickly under her breath so he couldn’t get back inside.  She sighed with relief and shook her head.  Fuck me, that was close…

 

Beth stuck her now unmatted hair out of the bathroom. “Hey, by any chance could I borrow some clothes? Mine needed washing desperately…They’ll be dry in an hour….” She paused, noticing the strange atmosphere in the room and the look on Tevy’s face. “Hey, you alright?”

 

“Oh, yeah,” she said, “Everything’s fine.  How was that shower?”

 

Beth grinned from her own inside joke. “It was heavenly. I’ve missed being clean. Anyways, do you mind if I borrow some clothes until mine are dry? I’ll wash and clean yours when I don’t need them anymore….”

 

“I was going to give you some, silly, and i totally could have washed yours!”  Tevy started walking towards her bedroom, “Come with me.”  She lead Beth into her walk in closet.  There wasnt really anything in there that was black besides a little box of clothes that she picked up off the floor and brought out to the bed.  “Lets see…”

Tevy dug through the box, throwing various t-shirts and sweat pants on her bed.  She pulled out a dark, olive green jacket and she paused, losing her breath for a second before snapping herself out of it and tossing it up by her pillows.  “s-sorry I… I guess im a little spacey tonight.” she laughed nervously, “Uh, any of these you can have honestly, theres a few old pairs of jeans and tank tops in there.  I wont wear em anymore.”  She eyed the jacket as she nervously scratched her neck, wincing when she hit the bruise she had forgotten about.

 

Beth blushed. “Thank you, but you really don’t have to give me your clothes to keep, mine are adequate….I don’t want to impose on you.” She gently picked up a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt that was easily two sizes too big for her, and hesitantly felt the material of the jacket, before drawing her hand away and deciding against it. She smiled hesitantly. “Thanks again for the loan of the clothes.” She quickly walked back to the bathroom and disappeared inside to change.

 

Tevy smiled slightly, she didn’t even get a word in before she disappeared.  She grabbed the jacket and stood in the doorway, holding it close to her.  She pressed it to her face softly and inhaled deeply.  It still had a lingering smell of sugar and a faint hint of musky cologne.  Her heart raced in the moment and her skin tingled.  She rested her head against the doorframe and waited for Beth to come back out.

 

A few minutes later, Beth walked out, dressed in the new clothing, the large t-shirt drowning her in its folds as it hung on her very thin frame. She grinned and held her bundle of old damp clothes in her hand. “Do you have a dryer, by any chance? How’s the cat doing?”

  
  


Tevy smiled, “uh, sleeping, last i checked.  shes in the linen closet away from the monster.  and yeah throw it in my dirty laundry basket, ill wash em up properly for ya.”  She threw the jacket back on her bed, her face looking a bit sullen.  She walked over to the closet and peeked in at the cat who was sleeping peacefully in the warm nest.  “Also, please, keep the clothes, and you can stay here for a while if ya like.  We are practically Kin… I can’t just turn you out on your own.  I’ve been there before… and someone showed me kindness and took me in to stay.  I can’t bare to watch someone as sweet as you get eaten alive out there.”

 

Beth froze, the smile still on her face. “W-what do you mean, kin?”

 

“Oh come on,” Tevy laughed, “You know what i am, and don’t think i cant tell what you are too.”  She didn’t… but she trusted Crowley for some ungodly reason.

 

Beth’s eyes darted toward the door. All the times that Bart’s agents had found her rushed through her head, and she was still partially feral from not trusting people because of it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. M-maybe I should go. You can have your clothes back. I’ll take mine…”

  
  


“Hey… Hey come on, man… I aint gunna hurt ya…”  Tevy stepped in front of the door.  “Hey, look dude, i don’t know what kinda history you got with those twats, but I promise you I aint a threat…. I’m a renegade… Those shit-for-brains cast me down, im a reject!”  She exposed her wings to her, the feathers barely holding on anymore and her flesh scarred from burning.  “You’re the first angel i’ve even seen in like 2 fuckin years.  You don’t have to worry about me…”

 

Beth trembled. “Lady, you’re crazy, and I don’t know what you are, but thanks for your kindness and all, but I should go…” She grabbed her bag and clothes and made for the window quickly. “Renagade…sure, but the last 5 agents of Bart’s tried that. I can’t trust anyone anymore….why did I even come here?”

Tevy sighed as Beth darted out the window.  She let her go.  What would it prove if she chased her.  She sighed and sat on the couch, Spud jumping up on her lap.  Her eyes immediately went to the picture of her and her her brothers.  She reached over and grabbed the frame, lifting up the photo.  Another picture lay hidden beneath it of herself and Gabriel kissing as they danced the night he had taken her to the 40s.  She choked back tears.  Was Crowley the only company she was ever to keep again?  Why doesn’t anyone stay?  She clutched Spud in her arms and cried into his patchy fur.  Fucking Angels…

 

Beth fled down the fire escape and jumped to the ground, panting heavily, her heart pounding furiously. “Crap, I can’t go back to the old alley…she’d just find me there. But I have no food….Maybe one of the guys in the old alley would have some? Or maybe I could go to a soup kitchen?” She looked herself over slightly. She was happier to be clean, but she felt guilty for basically stealing Tevy’s clothes when she ran away. Once her clothes were dry, she’d visit anonymously and probably leave them in a bag in the doorway.

She made her way to the old alley, shivering slightly because her jacket was still too wet to put on. One of the guys noticed her as she entered.

“Hey, doll, what’s the matter? Where’d you get the new clothes?” He leered at her, feigning concern, but coming across as utterly creeptastic. She ignored him and went to huddle in her normal corner, laying the clothes where her bare feet (which were now bleeding and cut to near ribbons from walking on the dirty streets and the fire escape) lay on top, and she pulled one of her thermal blankets around her, trying to keep herself from shivering.

He shrugged and left her alone, slouching against the alcove that he called home. She slowly began to drift asleep, slumping against the wall as she dropped into the world of dreams and nightmares.


	2. Reunification

Before she knew it, daylight had come again, and she was shivering still. Her blanket had fallen to the ground, and her feet pulsated painfully from the cold exposure. She grabbed the jacket and groaned. Still damp. She gritted her teeth and pulled it on despite the damp, shuddering from the cold. She rolled up her blanket and tucked it back in her purse. The man had left sometime during the night, and only one of the two women were still in the alleyway with her, and she was awake.

“You alright, dear?” the woman asked when she realized that Beth was watching her warily.

Beth nodded tiredly. “Yeah. Long night.”

The woman clucked sympathetically. “What happened? You had shoes when you left with that punk-looking gal last night. She rob you blind? And what happened to that adorable cat?”

Beth sighed. “I spooked. Gal I was with was almost too nice. I’ve been running from some people and she suddenly knew too much about me. I’d just gotten out of the shower, so I grabbed what I could and ran. I left my shoes and the cat behind by accident.” She dropped her head into her hands. “Was I wrong to run?”

The woman frowned. “Was she like you?” She questioned.

Beth hesitated. “What does she mean ‘like me’?” Fiddling with her bag for a minute, she fingered the edge of her angel blade. “Yeah, that was part of the problem. You ever think someone was too nice?”

The woman nodded knowingly. “Yeah. Every therapist I’ve known, every jackass boyfriend and husband I’ve had. They all turned out to be too good to be true.” She rummaged in her own bag, making Beth tense in fright, but instead of an angel blade, she pulled out a loaf of bread, and held it out to Beth. “Here. You weren’t here last night for the food giveaway, so I saved a loaf for you. Thought you might need it.”

Beth accepted it cautiously, and sniffed it suspiciously. Detecting nothing that would give it devious intent, she tore into it ravenously, having not eaten for at least a day and a half. She kept an eye on the woman the entire time she ate, and finally decided she could only be human. She hadn’t made any moves for a blade, though she could be wrong. Once the loaf was finished, she licked her fingers clean and sighed contentedly. “Thanks. That was delicious.”

The woman nodded and fell silent. Beth pondered what her next moves should be. “Should I go to the Goodwill and see if what meager funds I have can get me shoes? I’m not even sure I have the five dollars that the shoes cost…..”  She nestled into the collar of her coat. “Wonder how my cat’s doing….”

 

Tevy barely slept that night, her head filled with concern for Beth.  We’re other angels really that bad that she would run from her?  Perhaps she was smart to only associate with Gabriel and Balthazar.

She opened the curtains and let the sunlight in, Spud ran into the bedroom away from the light.  “Little Monster…” Tevy laughed to herself.  She opened the closet to check on the cat.  She was awake but still resting peacefully in her basket.  “Hey cat.”  Tevy pet the creature, she was warm and purring happily.  “I’ll be sure to grab you some proper food on my way home tonight.”

Tevy dressed herself up in a turquoise and black corset, her favorite black mini skirt that had chains and bondage straps hanging from it, her usual torn fishnets and a pair of black, Nathaniel Jump Boots she had been favoring lately.  Her hair combed to one side and straightened, she painted her face like a gothic princess, eye darkened and lips blood red.  Her lip piercing glistened in the light as she lifted her head, switching out her thick plugs for huge blue spiral gauges.  She was dressed to kill… or… dance for dirty demons in hell.

She made her way out the door and down the road.  She walked for 15 minutes to an alleyway where she walked up to the brick wall.  Making sure she was alone, she whispered softly to the street art on the bricks and within seconds the wall parted for her revealing a staircase.  Tevy darted down the steps before the wall shut again.  

At the bottom of the stairs was the doorway into the club.  The bouncer didn’t look at her more than once.  He knew her well now and didn’t hesitate to let her in.  She made a B-line for the staff only area behind the stage once she was in.

Three demon girls were sitting backstage, smoking god knows what and talking amongst themselves.  The blonde one with frizzy hair and hooker make up exhaled smoke and eyed Tevy like she was vermin.  “Tevy.” She said, disgust dripping from her lips.

“Gretchen.” Tevy nodded politely without looking at her at all, walking to her little vanity desk and checking her make up and boobs before going on.  She noticed Gretchen in the mirror behind her as she reapplied lip stick.  Her eyes immediately looking to her feet.  “Nice boots, bitch.” she said.  

Gretchen proudly lifted a foot and showed off her “new” Docks to Tevy.  “Thanks, just ganked em from some stupid pig human last night.”

Tevy shook her head.  “Best keep an eye on those, they’re expensive.”  She strutted out of the back room and into the hall that lead up to the stage.  Much to her dismay, Crowley was waiting for her.  “Oh my… Don’t you have anything better to do?  Ya’ know like King of Hell shit!?”

“Hello, Duckie.” He said, irritation flowing through his voice.

“‘Ello, Goosie.” Tevy said, mockingly.  “Excuse me, I have a job to do…”

“Yeah, you do.”  Crowley pinned Tevy against the wall by her throat and snarled, “Wasn’t funny what you did last night, pet… I ought to punish you for it…”

Tevy hated herself for liking it when he talked to her like that.  She sighed as he lifted a hand, snapping his fingers and zapping them away to a bedroom where she could be properly “punished”.

* * *

 

So much for work… it’s no wonder the other dancers hate me… i don’t even dance anymore and i still get paid…  Tevy fixed herself up after Crowley was done with her.  He was already gone, leaving behind new cuts and bruises all over her.  She looked in the mirror to see that he had given her a nice bruise and cut on her cheek when he through her at one point.  God i look like i got into a terrible bar fight… She wondered why she liked it so much in the moment.

Tevy walked back down to the staff area to get her things.  He had been at her for hours and her “shift” was already over.  “Ah look who it is.” Gretchen teased as Tevy walked in the room, “The King’s little toy.  Nice dancing out there today bitch.”  

“Oh, give it up you cunt.” Tevy growled.  She walked up to the vanity where her purse was and looked in her drawer.  A picture of her and Gabriel lay inside but it was wrinkled slightly as if someone had touched it.  “Gretchen… you been going through my shit?”  

“I needed more lipstick!  What does your baby face angel boyfriend think about you shackin’ up with the king o’hell?”

“Don’t…” Tevy gritted her teeth, clenching her fists and trying not to flip out.

“Oh, right, didn’t his own brother, the Morning Star run him through with his own blade?  I heard he didn’t even put up a fight.  Some Archangel he must have been.”

Without a word, Tevy ran to Gretchen and ran Gabriel’s blade into her chest.  “I said… Don’t…”  Gretchen light up with an orange light as she died in her vessel.  Tevy wiped the blade off and stuck it back into her boot before ripping the Docks off of Gretchen’s dead body.  “Thanks for the boots, bitch.”  

  
  


Tevy began walking home, making sure to walk past the alley she found Beth in, hoping she would be there.  As she reached the alley, she turned in and walked up to Beth when she spotted her, looking down at her with her heavily bruised face still bleeding.  Before Beth could react, Tevy dropped the Dock Martins on the ground next to her.  “Put them on before you hurt your ves… your feet anymore than you already have.  You owe me nothing.”  Tevy turned to walk out of the alley.

Beth looked at the gift of the boots mutely, at a loss for words, while Tevy walked away. “……..W-wait! Wait up!” She pulled the boots on as fast as she could, and ran after her, limping slightly.

She caught up quickly, and inhaled in shock slightly at the amount of damage to Tevy’s face. She examined her face quietly, and held up her hand to Tevy’s face. “May I?”

 

“Uh, sure?” Tevy said, not amused.

 

Gently, Beth placed her hand on the bruises, and after a few minutes, they were gone, healed by her touch. “Feel any better?”

“Physically, yes, thank you.  But you really shouldnt do that in front of humans.  Now if you will excuse me.”  Tevy walked passed her again and continued towards her apartment.

 

Beth bit her lip and followed a few paces behind. “Tevy….I wanted to say I’m sorry for last night. I…overreacted. I’m sorry.” She stopped, and watched.

 

Tevy stopped and spoke without turning around, “It’s fine…  Again, you don’t owe me anything.  If you don’t want my help then you don’t have to take it… I get it, I’m a freak…  I’m too nice.”  She turned around.  “I spent the last 2 years in fear and loneliness, not knowing if i would ever meet another person like me.  I just thought… Never mind… Enjoy those boots, they should treat you well.”  She turned to walk away again.

 

“…Can I stay with you?”

She turned again, “I never told you to leave…”  She gestured with her head for her to follow her home again and turned to keep walking.  

  
  


Beth sighed in relief and surprise and followed awkwardly.  After a short silence, she spoke softly. “So you’re not with any of the factions? How…did you know without seeing my wings…?”

“Factions?  I don’t think I know what you mean… I’m just me.  I’ve been alone on this damned planet amongst humans since the 1800’s without contact to a single angel since my grounding.  and I don’t know, I guess you can call it intuition.  You could see Spud so that was the first key.”

Beth nodded slowly. “I’m sorry then. I’ve been…hunted for a while. Do you know what’s been going on in heaven lately? Anything at all? Rumors?”

“Sorry,” Tevy sighed, “No clue.  I havn’t been up to speed since Lucifer and Michael got themselves locked up again.  After that I fell off the grid.  Been on my own ever since up until a few months ago.”  She looked up at the sky as the got close to her apartment.  “No, my attention has been looking down lately, rather than up.”

 

Beth pondered that for a second. “Heaven is closed. Someone cast a spell. That freak meteor shower that happened a few months ago? It was every single angel falling from Heaven, me being one of them. Since we arrived, some of our more….violent siblings have been kicking up a fuss, forming into factions, and they’re fighting each other. One of the heads -was- Bartholomew, another is Malachi. Bart’s old minions still chase me. I used to follow him, before I left because his orders were too hard to follow. He was too cruel…” She took a deep breath. “So I went undercover as a homeless person. Tried to blend in with the humans. It’s been hard. I thought you were one of the ones who were trying to track me down and bring me back to the factions, because you knew what I was.” She hung her head. “I’m really sorry.” She stopped by the door of Tevy’s apartment. “Please, forgive me.”

 

“It’s cool man,” Tevy let them into the apartment, “I can see where you would want to be careful.  You’re welcome here as long as you please.”  She walked in and set her things down, Spud circling  her legs.  She threw a ball out the window that must have flown at least 3 city blocks.  “Go get it, ya psycho.”  Spud flew out the window after his toy.  She walked back to the kitchen and glanced at the two photos that had been in the frame were now on the counter, and sighed before grabbing herself a glass of water.

 

Beth sank down on one of the sofas, and curled up protectively. “T-thank you.” She sniffled slightly. She impatiently brushed away a tear, then more as she slowly broke down and hid her face behind her knees and sobbed quietly.

 

Tevy brought tissues over to Beth and sat down.  “What was it like?  Living up there…”  She set her glass on the table.  “I mean… I wasn’t up there very long after my creation before Zachariah cast me down… All I really have to go off it is what Gabriel had told me.”  His name slipped off her tongue despite her not knowing if she should have said it or not.

 

It was a few minutes before Beth could answer without her throat choking her or hiccuping. “There were days when it was the best thing you could ever have. And there were other days when it was bad. Really bad. I barely escaped Castiel’s murder spree. Ever since Father left….it only got worse when he left. I only stayed cause…I didn’t know where else to go, and I’d heard such stories about how bad Earth could be….I was scared to stay but scared to leave. Sometimes I had to do things because I was ordered to, and they were such terrible, TERRIBLE things…” She hiccuped hard. She looked at Tevy with bloodshot eyes. “Honestly…I’m almost jealous of your experience. Not having to deal with the terror of not knowing who’s in charge, who’s going to try to kill you next…” The tears began to flow again, harder than before. A soft mewing sound came from the closet, and Beth cued in on it.

 

Tevy stood and walked over to the closet, opening the door and letting the momma cat out.  She was as big as a melon, ready to pop soon.  But she still trotted over to Beth and laid at her feet consolingly.  Tevy walked back over and smiled.  “You don’t want what happened to me.”  She sat down, picking the cat up and letting her curl up with Beth.  “I rebelled.  I didn’t want to fight in the garrison; I wanted to live free.  Zach didn’t like that, he said I was made to fight and if I didn’t I should be destroyed… so he lit up my wings with Holy Fire and as they burned he cast me down… and I fell… took a vessel… and living alone for… oh… probably 1500 years give or take… watching humans was amazing.  I loved to see them grow over time, the way they changed, the things they discovered and created.  It was amazing, but I was alone… Whatever friend I had made would grow old and wonder why I didn’t.  I would have to leave them to hide the fact that I couldn’t age and the ones who knew what I was… well they couldn’t go on with me and I had to watch them die…  After a while I couldn’t bare the pain of losing my friends and I chose not to make any more…  centuries later, I was at my wit’s end and I begged, oh did I beg for an angel to come down and smite me, just take away my pain… and I would have done it myself… but… He saved me…” Tevy sighed and wiped her cheek, tears threatening to pour from her eyes.  “He was the only angel I could trust… someone I thought I would never have to let go of, I would never have to watch him wither away and I wouldn’t have to say goodbye… but even that was stolen from me… by fucking Lucifer, seems only angels ever seem to rob me of everything I love…”  She shook her head.  “I’m sorry… you probably don’t want to hear this…”

 

Beth grimaced slightly. “Dead or not, I’m grateful to the angel who showed you kindness, because he extended it to me through you. Also, I’m sorry for your loss.” She scooted closer to Tevy, hesitant, but wanting to comfort and be comforted. The mama cat meowed loudly next to her, demanding attention. Beth laughed slightly through the tears that still threatened to overflow again. “Guess we’ve all had a rough time of life here…” She picked up the cat and set it in her lap, stroking it gently, and the meowing turned to deep loud purring.

 

“His name was Gabriel.  I’m surprised you didn’t recognize the name the first time I said it.  He would let you stay with us, I’m sure of it…”  She put her arm around Beth.  “We just gotta stick together.”  She looked down at the momma cat, spacing out again.

 

Beth blinked. “Gabriel…like the archangel Gabriel? I thought he disappeared off the radar a thousand years or so ago….or a few millenia ago…he was still around?” The mama cat squeaked slightly and padded her way over to Tevy, flopping down into her lap.

 

 

Tevy smiled slightly, “He was around… was… posing as Loki the Trickster… and he did a damn good job of hiding too, until Lucifer was popped from his cage… he felt it was his job to at least try and stop them from ending the world as humans knew it…”  She pet the cat and sighed.  “That didn’t end well for Gabriel.”

Beth’s eyes widened and a few mixed emotions flitted across her face before she facepalmed. “Of course he would be the flipping trickster. I ran into him a few times as Loki then. Got me stuck in some ridiculous time loop one time. He gave up playing with me cause I didn’t even try to get out; Just kept sitting in my room and knitting the entire time. He got so frustrated…hehe…”

 

Tevy laughed and shook her head.  “Oh yeah, I can see that getting old to him fast, the man had no attention span unless you… heh… oh never mind that.”

 

Beth sighed and leaned against Tevy’s shoulder gently. “That sucks…I kinda wish I could’ve met him again, teased him for all the botched pranks he tried to pull on me. I’m sorry he’s gone.” Her eyes flickered to the mama cat, who had jumped down from Tevy’s lap and was waddling around strangely. “Um…what is she doing?”

 

Tevy got up and followed the cat as she watched it closely, “I’m not sure…”

The cat lay down gingerly, starting to pant weirdly. Beth gasped. “Um…I’m not good with animals that much, but is she going into labor?”

 

“Fuck… okay um… I need you not to panic… but I.. I know someone who’s done with with h…dogs before.. I think he can help.”  She pulled out her phone and pushed a button, holding it to her ear.  “But, uh… you’re not gunna like him…”

 

Beth flailed slightly as she tried to get up from the couch, and the couch tried to engulf her in billowing waves of softness. Once she managed to get up, she ran over to the kitchen and grabbed a pot, filled it with water and shoved it onto the stove. “I know that we’re going to need hot water…and towels…? I think? I’ve seen a few shows where thats what they do…hot towels maybe? Wait, who am I not going to like?” She tried to keep still in one place, but she kept checking stuff with nervous energy.

 

“Hey,” Tevy said over the phone as she followed the cat into the closet where she climbed back into her basket, “So um, I might have a cat about to pop out some kittens in my apartment… no its not mine…. like.. a day?….. CROWLEY!  Shut up and tell me what I’m supposed to do!”  Tevy looked at the ceiling with her mouth open and rolled her eyes as she listened to Crowley over the phone.

 

Beth stiffened and looked at Tevy with wide eyes. She mouthed wordlessly at Tevy. “Crowley? like -the- Crowley? like the KING OF HELL Crowley?!?” She gaped slightly with her mouth still open, then shut it. She shook herself and occupied herself with staring at the water, almost willing it to boil faster.

 

She held the phone away from her ear for a moment, “Beth, he said we don’t need water, shes not a person, she can do it herself we just have to make sure…”  She put the phone back to her ear, “Dude, chill, it’s her cat….  We just have to make sure she pushed em all out okay.  And yeah… the king of hell, Crowley.  I told you, you wouldn’t like him…”  She looked at the cat again, “Well… no, its just ya know… you’re a fucking demon… chances are most people don’t like you…. oh my goooooooddddd.”  she rolled her eyes as Crowley barked and growled over the phone, laughing to herself and looking over to Beth.

 

Beth calmed down slightly. “Well, at the very least I can make tea to calm -me- down. Do you have any tea packets? And…does he want to join us?” She asked hesitantly.

  
  


“Already ahead of you, love,” Crowley appeared in the kitchen and placed a steaming cup of tea in front of Beth as he walked over to Tevy, looking in on the cat.  “Oh, she’s fine, give her an hour or two, make sure she pops the little buggers out nicely and leave her be.  Much easier than Hellhounds.  Cleaner too.  You’ve no idea how messy Hellhound placenta can be when it bursts.”

Tevy looked at Crowley, raising a brow.  “Really??  You had to give us that imagery?”

Crowley smirked and kissed Tevy’s forehead.  “Tea?”

 

Beth jumped slightly, and tried to cover it by reaching for the tea, and gently blowing the steam away to cool it to drinking temperature. “So…she’s going to be alright?” She hid her face behind her bangs, shy and slightly (maybe more than slightly) nervous that she was talking with the King of Hell.

 

“She’ll be fine.” Crowley walked back in the kitchen, Tevy following behind him, “Cat’s usually do this on their own anyways.  Just as long as we keep her comfortable she will be just fine.”  Tevy leaned against the counter next to her king and grabbed Crowley’s tea from his hands as he manifested it out of thin air.  He shot her a look but couldn’t help but smile as she gave his doe eyes over the rim of the cup as she sipped.

 

“So…” Beth held her hand out politely. “Hi. I’m Beth. And I assume you’re Crowley?”

 

Crowley stepped closer to her and took her hand in his, “King Crowley.”  He kissed her hand lightly, “What a pleasure to meet you, Beth.”

 

“Oh, please,” Tevy sighed and rolled her eyes.

 

Beth blushed slightly. “N-nice to meet you, sir.” She withdrew her hand and took a small sip of her tea, glancing over at the mama cat, who was still panting.  “So you bred Tevy’s hellhound, I’m guessing? He seems well behaved for his breed…” She tried to not freak over the fact she, an angel was conversing calming with the king of hell, who seemed more polite than she would’ve imagined him to be. He was…charming in his own way, and was dressed in a nice suit. If she had met him on the street and been human, she probably would’ve had no idea that he was one of the most powerful demons in their world.

 

Just then, a loud pang and a crash came from the bathroom followed by growling.  Tevy sighed, “Yeah.. well behaved.”   Spud came trotting out with the toilet seat around his neck, happily panting and sitting at Crowley’s feet.  “So, so well behaved…” She smiled and looked at Crowley with judging eyes.  He just rolled his eyes and looked down at the puppy.

“He didn’t get that from me.”  Crowley looked back at Tevy and mimicked her look.  “And yes, he’s from a litter from my best gal.  And how do you mean ‘for his breed’?  My hounds are perfectly well behaved.”

 

Beth startled slightly. “Oh! I didn’t mean…I just meant…! Urk….I meant since he’s more unique than other dogs.” She grinned nervously. “No human could handle him. Extraordinary dog for an extraordinary woman, am I right?”

 

Tevy smiled and laughed, shaking her head.  Crowley smirked and looked at Tevy, “Extraordinary,”  He said in a low and mysterious voice, “Sure she is.”  Tevy rolled her eyes and walked back over to the closet, watching the momma cat as she began to yowl softly, starting to push her babies out slowly.

 

Beth’s eyes widened. “Is she….is that blood?” She said faintly, then her eyes rolled back in her head as she fainted and slumped out of her chair with a loud thump.

 

Crowley laughed at Beth as she passed out in her chair and Tevy grabbed a bar of soap and flung it at Crowley, hitting him right in the head.  “Be nice,” She said, watching the momma cat as her cluster of babies slid out one by one.  

Crowley kneeled at the basket with Tevy and reached down, picking the kittens up one by one and putting them closer to the mother’s head.  She began licking her babies clean as she delivered more.  After about an hour, there were 7 little baby cats mewling softly and cradled close to their mother as she slept soundly.

The king stood up, followed by Tevy.  He leaned in and kissed her cheek.  “Crowley… don’t..”

“Don’t what, love?”  He asked, leaning back on the countertop.  

“Don’t pretend to care about me…”  Tevy answered.  “I know I’m just a toy to you, why make it anymore complicated?”  Tevy wetted a towel with cold water and walked over to Beth.  She rubbed her forehead with the cloth softly.

 

Beth moaned gently as she slowly started coming to. “I…wha…Luci? Where am I…?” She blinked. “I…Tevy…what happened?”

 

“You passed out when you saw a little blood when the cat started giving birth.”  Tevy answered, “And who’s Luci?”  She handed Beth a glass of water.

 

Beth blushed deeply. “Darn….yeah, now you know the reason I left Bart’s group. I literally collapse at the sight of any blood. I’m pathetic as a soldier. I’m surprised I -wasn’t- kicked out of heaven for it. They just stuck me in a desk job in heaven, when we were still there…Anyways, did she have them all ok? Is she alright?” She blushed deeper and fell into silence, thinking. “Did I really say his name when I came to?”

 

“Yeah, man shes all good,”  Tevy hesitated, “Shes asleep now with her babies.”  She stood up and walked into the kitchen and over to her hound, picking him up and holding him close.  Did she fucking mean Lucifer?

 

Beth sipped the water slowly. As she drank, her thoughts unwillingly turning to the past, of troubled days and long hours spent trying to convince, to sway him to stay with her, to forget his foolishness and leave the world, heaven and even -hell- in their dust.

 

Beth sighed as she fiddled with her pencil, writing poetry. Her class was long and boring…who needed to know strategy anyways? She knew deep inside her that she would never be a good soldier anyways. She couldn’t even stomach seeing the sight of blood; she always passed out. Across the room from her, a young golden haired boy grinned at her and used his pencil as a improvised mustache. She rolled her eyes, and then giggled slightly when his older brother leaned over, looked where his younger brother was looking, and then flicked the pencil off of Gabe’s upper lip. Naomi frowned at them and scolded them sharply, telling them to pay attention. Beth ducked her head, her hair falling forward and shielding her eyes from view. When she looked up again, Lucifer was still glancing at her, a grin on his face. He winked quickly, then turned back to the front. She blushed slightly, feeling slightly tingly.

 

Fastforward a few millennia, to one of the first and last battles ever for her. Lucifer had left Heaven, been banished, and he was fighting tooth and nail to get back in, to take it for himself. Beth escaped most of the fighting by hiding shamefully in the shadows, and she trembled as the violence swirled all around her; her angel blade hung loosely in her hand, still shiny from newness. It had yet to be tainted with blood. Somehow she was shoved by the fighting towards the main event, where Lucifer was battling several angels at once, barely protected by his demons that were falling by the dozens. He turned on her, eyes blazing, his blade raised, blood dripping from his robes. Her eyes focused on the blood, she felt her strength leave her, and her blade fell to the ground a moment before she did.

When she came to, she didn’t recognize her surroundings. A fire crackled next to her, and there was a wet rag on her forehead. When she sat up, Lucifer appeared from the shadows.

“Are you alright?” He asked quietly.

“You…didn’t kill me? But…you’re supposed to be my enemy…the enemy of all angels now…” Beth muttered groggily, still not understanding what was going on.

He looked at her passively. He looked downwards, at his now clean but still scarred hands. “…How could you expect me to kill my gentlest sister?” He brushed her bangs away from her eyes, staring deep into her soul. “I could never hurt you….”

 

Beth jerked slightly, not realizing how deep she had gone into her memories. Tevy was starting to give her a slightly weird look, and Beth shifted her eyes back down to her drink, embarrassed.

 

Tevy watched Beth carefully as she pet her hound. Spud licked her master’s cheek, as she walked back over to Crowley.  “Thanks,”  She said, “You can go now…”

“What if I don’t want to?” He growled, playfully and flirtatiously.

“What if I don’t want you here?”

Crowley frowned and for a second she swore she saw some sort of sorrow in his eyes before he disappeared.  Tevy sighed and sat on the floor in front of Beth, Spud flopping in her lap and nipping happily at her fishnets.  “You feel okay?”

 

Beth grimaced slightly. “Yeah…it’s just…still a bit foggy, you know. Passing out makes me kinda lose track of surroundings and stuff for a little bit.” She waved her hand in front of her face and made a ‘durr’ face. “I’ll probs be fine in a bit. No longer than five minutes.” She paused. “You mad at the King for some reason?” She made sure to use his honorific, not sure about the correct way to refer to him around Tevy.

 

Tevy sighed and shook her head, “Uh, well… Not mad, just…”  She pet Spud.  “I’ve done…some really bad shit with him… and I don’t really know how much longer I can keep it up… but honestly, Crowley’s all I’ve got.”

 

Beth nodded slowly. “I think…I know how you feel.” She fiddled with her glass of water, images of Lucifer smiling, laughing, and generally being sassy flitting before her minds eye. Her heart filled with sorrow so fast it almost made her react physically. “It almost hurts, doesn’t it?”

 

“What part?”

 

Beth looked at Tevy surreptitiously. She put the glass down and curled up in a ball, her arms hugging her legs and her hair hiding her eyes. “You know…the secrets from the brethren…the stress of keeping your mouth shut….almost feeling like you’re leading a double life?”

 

Tevy scoffed.  “Fuck em all, dude.  I don’t keep my mouth shut.  Everything Gabriel and Balthazar told me, if anyone wanted to know, I’d tell em.  Let em kill each other over their petty shit.  I’ve got nothing to lose.  Theres only one thing I want in this stupid eternal life, and  I can’t ever have it.”

  
  


Beth tilted her head. “And what’s that?”

 

“My tricky, sweet Archangel to be alive and in my arms again…”

 

Beth nodded, flushing slightly, her throat choking up. “And it was my lover who killed hers….how can I tell her that? She’d throw me aside. She’d hate me. She wouldn’t let me stay, or want me to, for that point.”  Tears started to pool slightly, unbidden to her eyes, and she hung her head, hoping her long hair concealed her face for the most part.

 

“What… did I say something wrong.” Tevy leaned down and peeked under her hair.

 

Beth choked slightly again on one of her supressed sobs. “W-what? No! I….I need a minute.” She got up abruptly, then started swaying slightly, still woozy from her recent fainting episode. Somehow, she managed to stumble to the bathroom, where she finally let the tears pour, once the door was safely closed behind her.

 

Tevy stared blankly at the floor, spacing out and petting Spud.  She’s hiding something from me…The room began to spin and she groaned.  “Shit…”  Moments later, Tevy hit the floor and slipped into unconsciousness.


	3. Revelations and Clarifications

Beth cried until her eyes could shed no more tears, biting her arm as hard as she could to muffle the sound of her sobs, so they wouldn’t be audible over the sound of the bathroom fan. She wiped her eyes, and took a deep breath before looking in the mirror. She looked like hell warmed over, but her eyes didn’t look nearly as bad as she’d thought, so she opened the door and walked back out into the main room. She blinked, seeing Tevy laying on the floor, Spud whining softly and nudging her arm. “Wha…Tevy!” She ran to her side and checked her pulse. Good, it was steady. “Should I call Crowley? What should I do?” She looked around and spotted Tevy’s phone on the counter. She hesitated. “Maybe I can take care of her myself…?” She deliberated for a second, then threw caution to the winds. “I’m gonna hear it from Tevy later, but to hell with it.” She got up and got the cellphone, pressing the redial button to call the most recently dialed number. It rang a few times, then picked up. “Crowley, it’s Beth. Something’s wrong with Tevy.”

 

Crowley poofed into the room the second he heard her say it, rushing to Tevy on the floor.  “Tevy,” he said under his breath, feeling her vessel’s neck for a pulse and then realizing that probably didn’t matter.  He snapped his fingers in front of her face and she shot up, gasping.

Tevy panted and looked around frantically, “No,” She said, “Crowley… what the fuck!?”  She shoved him as she jumped to her feet, walking into the bathroom and wetting her face, slicking back her hair.  She looked into the mirror, her body shaking when she saw her eyes.  Normally emerald green, her left eye was slowly turning a glimmering shade of honey amber.  “What…”  

 

Beth came into the bathroom, hovering hesitantly behind Tevy. “Are…are you alright? I called Crowley cause I was worried….I came out and just found you lying on the ground…”

 

Tevy looked at Beth, slowly turning her head, her left eye shimmered brightly.  “What… What’s happening to me?  My…. is my eye… am I seeing shit?”

 

Beth gasped and fell back a few steps. “Oh my! Um…Crowley? Are you seeing this?”

 

Crowley walked up behind Beth.  “oh, Angel…”  He moved to touch her cheek but Tevy backed away.

“Don’t…” Tevy glared at the demon, looking much more defencive around him than before.  “Crowley… Go home…”

Crowley hesitated.  His brow furrowing slightly, “Tevy…”  She backed up again.

“Please… don’t look at me like you fucking care.”

“How do you know I don’t?!”  Crowley’s voice changed in a way she had never heard before.  He scoffed and walked out towards the front door.  Tevy shook and looked back in the mirror.

Beth hesitated, then followed Crowley, and touched him softly on the shoulder before he reached the door. “Crowley..” she asked in a half whisper, “What’s happening to her??”

  
  


Crowley rubbed his face and turned to her, “I… I don’t know… I have no fucking idea…”  His eyes were reddening as he spoke, threatening to leak.  He quickly turned away from her, “She doesn’t want me here… I can’t be here…”  Crowley disappeared into thin air.

 

Beth cursed under her breath in Enochian. She looked at the open bathroom doorway, where she could see Tevy’s silhouette in the other room. “…Tevy..? Are you alright?” She stood just outside the doorway, reaching her arm forward to touch Tevy’s shoulder, accidentally brushing her wing stumps. She sucked in a gasp of surprise, wincing slightly.

 

Tevy wheezed as she breathed, her wings twitching from the touch.  A feather dropped to the floor and she lowered her head.  “I don’t know what’s happening…”  She winced as a few more feathers fell, one by one they began to drop from the stumps that were once wings.  “My head… is pounding… I keep slipping under… I keep…”  the tips of her wings where the skin was tight and scarred from burning strained as they flexed, a small tear forming.  “I keep hearing him… inside my head…”  Blood began to seep from her wings and down her back, dripping to the floor rapidly.  “It can’t be real… He’s gone.. someones fucking with me… right??”  She turned to Beth, her eyes bloodshot, the left one still gleaming brightly and golden.  A small teardrop fell from her eye and rolled down her cheek from the same eye.  Not a tear, but a shimmering drop of angel grace.  “I don’t understand what’s going on, Beth…”

 

Beth stared. “That’s….what? That’s…” She broke off and ran to get a bowl. “If that’s angel grace….I have to contain it somehow….bottle?”  She grabbed the nearest water bottle she could find. She ran back to Tevy, holding the bottle as close to Tevy’s face as she could. “Hun, you’re crying angel grace. Can you hold this?” She spoke as sternly as she could, though her voice trembled slightly.

 

Tevy’s hand trembled as she gripped the bottle.  Her teeth chattered as she shook.  Blood still dripping to the floor from her wings.

 

Beth noted the blood and flinched. “Crap crap crap she’s bleeding…” She immediately started feeling faint from the sight of it. “NO! Have to stay conscious! She -needs- me! I have to get over this NOW.” She gritted her teeth and quickly walked/ran into the kitchen, searching for some kind of first aid kit, finally finding one under the kitchen sink. She rushed back to Tevy’s side, tearing through the kit till she found the gauze and the antiseptic. She grabbed a couple of towels, and placed them on Tevy’s wings stumps. She looked longingly at the cell phone, wanting to call Crowley back, she could use the backup. Then again…Tevy just kicked him out as soon as she was conscious, and he seemed to be having some kind of internal conflict. No, she couldn’t recall Crowley. She would have to do this on her own.

 

“Beth…”  Tevy said, her voice growing weaker, “Don’t bother really, its…okay…”

Beth flailed in frustration and helplessness. “What am I supposed to -DO-?!?”

 

Tevy smiled a little, looking at Beth as she leaned on the sink.  “Just… Its…okay…Sugar…”  Tevy swayed slightly as her nose dripped blood and she fell to the ground, slipping under again.

 

Beth slid down to her knees, blankfaced. “WHAT THE FUCK DO I DO!?” She yelled, utterly done, and depressed. She scooted over to Tevy, and pulled her into her lap gently, stroking the unconscious girl’s hair out of her eyes. “Why…do I have to be so useless?”

 

Spud trotted up next to Beth and nudged his master.  He looked up at Beth and licked her cheek as if to say its alright and then climbed up on top of Tevy’s belly and layed on her.  He wagged his tail and looked at Tevy, then at Beth and then back to Tevy, licking her chin.  Spud raised a paw and set it on top of Beth’s hand, panting and growling a little playfully, giving off a happy, calm vibe.

 

Beth sniffled slightly. She pet Spud’s paw slightly. “I wish I had your attitude, Spud.” A tear trickled down her cheek. “But I’ve always been useless. Pretty sure I’m cursed that way.” She chuckled humoressly. “I’m probably the angel of uselessness.”

 

Spud whined and swatted her with a paw, growling in disagreement.  Tevy’s fingers twitched and Spud’s ears perked before he licked them, causing Tevy to smile.  He looked up at Beth and panted happily, wagging his tail.

Tevy groaned softly in her sleep, stirring a little but not waking.

 

Beth blinked. “Spud…do you understand me?” She got distracted slightly when she noticed that Tevy was responsive. She pet her hair gently, humming a lullaby under her breath, one that one of the homeless people had taught her.

 

The little beast nodded and licked his master’s chin.  After a few moments, Tevy stirred again, inhaling deeply.  “Spud, you’re not as light as you used to be, boy.”  She whispered, without opening her eyes.

 

“Tevy?” Beth breathed softly. “You alright?” She withdrew her hand from Tevy’s hair, concerned.

 

Tevy slowly opened her eyes.  The left one had turned back to green.  She looked up at Beth with an expression of sorrow on her face.  “I…I don’t know…”  she sighed, “Physically… yeah… but…. I think I know why that happened…”

 

“Mind letting me know?” Beth asked, stress apparent on her face, “Cause I’m not ok with any of what just happened and I’m still not sure I might not pass out in a minute or two…”

 

Tevy smiled, “How bout I tell ya after I clean up and you don’t have to look at me like this anymore?”

 

Beth hesitated. “Will you be able to? You hit your head pretty hard the last time you passed out.”

 

“Aaahh, don’t worry about me.”  Tevy got up on her knees and crawled to the tub, “No one ever said you have to be standing to shower.”  She smiled at Beth as she slid her body into the tub lazily.  Spud pushed Beth out of the room with his nose.

 

Beth slumped against the doorframe just outside the bathroom and sighed. “Spud…wish I had a caring dog like you….I’d ask my cat but she’s busy with her kittens…”

 

Spud whined and rubbed his head on Beth’s leg like a cat and meowed demonically, purring deeply and scratching the carpet.

 

Beth giggled slightly. “Spud…why are you trying to be a cat? C’mere, you.” She pulled him gently into her lap, and cuddled him. “Silly pup…”

 

Spud licked Beth’s cheek and wagged happily.

 

After about 20 minutes, Tevy stepped out of the bathroom in a robe.  She sighed as she walked into the living room and sat down on the recliner.  “You two are bonding well I see.”

 

Beth blushed and gently nudged him off her, got up and walked over to the couch. “So….what happened?” She watched Tevy expectantly.

 

Tevy sighed, making herself comfy and pulling her legs in underneath her on the chair.  “So… every time this has happened… I can hear a voice.  and in my… oh I don’t know what to call it… my ‘dream’, I guess, I’m in a field I’ve never seen before.  Well, before Crowley interrupted… it was Gabriel’s voice talking to me.  But when Crowley zapped me awake he had cut him off from me and, i don’t know i guess it interfered with the connection before it was supposed to stop and my vessel freaked because of what was happening inside of her… like not the woman… she’s… well she’s gone, or at least I think she is, I really don’t know how to tell.  But regardless,” She paused and sighed, “I slipped back under and I actually could see him… I think…”

 

Beth tilted her head confusedly. “Gabriel? But….not to be insensitive…but he’s dead. Lucifer killed him…wait…did he say anything? Were you able to hear him, what he was saying?”

 

Tevy’s eyes looked sorrowful as she looked at Beth, she brought her hands to her face as a tear trickled down her face, “He was asking me to help him…but what if its not him?  What if its someone trying to fuck with me?  What if its Lucifer toying with me from the cage?”

 

Beth’s face stiffened. “No, he wouldn’t do…” she cut herself off, biting her tongue. “Shut up, she doesn’t know you’re his girlfriend…was his girlfriend…you dumbass…”  She curled up on the sofa, hiding her face. “But what if it was Gabriel? What would you do? What should you do?”

 

“Well how the hell am I supposed to know if it is him or not?  All I know is that whoever it was looked and sounded exactly like him and was telling me how weak he was and that he needs me…  I don’t even know where to look if I wanted to go find him… I don’t even know if I should…”

 

Beth pondered it for a second. “What about next time asking him something only you and he knows? That’d be a way to figure out if it’s really him and not…Lucifer…in the cage. Then if it’s him, I’ll help you find him. I’m not letting you go alone, you’re super weak right now…”

 

“What if there isnt a next time?”  Tevy cocked a brow and lifted her head, “By the way, Why do you hesitate whenever you say Lucifer’s name?”

 

“Shit.” Beth hid her face lower behind her hair and knees. “I-its…it’s nothing.”

 

Tevy furrowed her brow, “Bull.”  She sat up, “No way I can think it’s nothing after you react like that…”

 

Beth hid her face as much as she could. “You wouldn’t trust me if I told you. Please…don’t.”

Tevy scoffed, “You were affiliated with him weren’t you?  Beth, why would I care if you knew Lucifer personally?  I’m on a first name basis with the king of hell and I’m not a shit bag like he is, so why would I be untrusting of you if you knew the ‘bag of dicks’ that killed my Gabriel?…if he even did…”

 

Beth’s eyes flared suddenly with anger and she rose to her feet. “Because I loved him. Because I still do. And I can’t live with myself because I do.” She stalked over to the kitchen and leaned on the counter heavily, breathing hard as she fought her tide of emotions.

 

Tevy paused for a moment and just watched her.  “Beth…”  She sighed, “Who you fall in love with should have no reflection on you…”  

 

Beth clenched her fist. “You don’t understand. I was his girlfriend, still am, and I still miss him. Even with all the terrible things he’s done. All the pain he’s caused, especially to you. I thought…I thought I could make him better. Get him to see that humans weren’t so bad. Get him to see that the war he wanted was wrong. No. I was wrong. And I can’t stop torturing myself with my damn crush on my older brother who’d locked in jail for eternity.” She slammed her fist down on the table, making the cupboards rattle.

 

“Dude,”  Tevy stood up, “You think that you feeling for someone who did shitty things makes you a shitty person?”  Tevy almost seemed to puff up as she walked closer to Beth.  “After Gabriel was gone, I ran from Balthazar because I thought he was pulling some shady shit only to find out that he, too was killed by one of our brothers months later.  And then I fucking ran away to Chicago to start over ONLY TO get snagged up by the king of hell to dance for all his pig demons in hell, and little did I know he just wanted to fuck me and use me as a sex slave.  Oh, and did I mention that he beats the ever loving shit out of me?  And I love it at the time, but how do you think I feel about it after?  And I’m doing all of this bullshit while still being desperately in love with Gabriel, PRAYING TO DAD every bloody night to bring him back to me because I can’t even stomach looking at myself; I’ve done so much that I cannot forgive myself for and maybe Gabriel is the only one who can take away that pain.”

 

Beth sighed heavily. “Well….I’m not sure what to say…” She walked slowly over to her sister, her anger and despair dissipating to almost nothing; she leaned against Tevy’s shoulder gently, and sighed again. “I guess…we both have our issues, and neither of us have done stuff we’re exactly proud of, but at the very least…we’re alive, and we have each other to lean on. If you don’t hate me for loving Lucifer, then I don’t condemn you for the things you’ve done or had done to you.” She hid her face in Tevy’s back as she hugged her warmly. “Let’s get some tea, and check on the kittens, shall we?” She watched Tevy carefully. “You’re not going to pass out again right now…are you?”

 

“No, I don’t think so,” Tevy said, her voice more calm now.  She walked into the kitchen  and began prepping her tea kettle, her hands shaking slightly.

 

Beth watched her closely, and walked over to see how the kittens were. They were still slightly wet from birth, mewling softly as they nuzzled clumsily against their mother, who was exhausted but purring loudly. Beth bent down, being cautious around the mother, knowing she might not take too kindly to her kittens being handled right now. “They’re beautiful…”

  
  
  


Tevy walked over, leaning against the wall and peeking in too, she smiled as she watched the babies squirm around their momma, slowly arranging themselves around her tummy to feed.  “They sure are.”  Moments later, Tevy walked over to the kettle which was whistling on the stove, and opened her cabinet.  “Sorry I can’t make magic, snap-yo-fingers tea like Crowley.”  His name rolled off her tongue in disgust.   “But I do have black, peach-ginger, sleepy time or green.  Whatchu want?”

 

Beth grinned. “Sleepy time tea sounds great. It’s been a long day.” She sighed in contentment at the thought of good tea for the first time since she had become homeless. She licked her lip, trying to get it so it wasn’t so chapped. Absentmindedly, she separated a few strands of her hair and started braiding them along one side, creating a thin braid that made her eyes slightly easier to see. “So, what next? What’s our game plan from here on?”

 

Tevy grabbed the honey and sugar from the pantry and poured the hot water over the tea bags.  “You want a job?  Oh, and do you take honey or sugar?”  She asked as she dipped a heaping spoon of honey into her own tea followed by a few spoonfuls of sugar.  She whispered to herself, “Fucking trickster, giving me a stupid sweet tooth…”

 

“Sugar, please. What kind of job are you talking about?” She pulled the cup of tea toward herself and took a hesitant sip, burning her tongue slightly regardless. “Ow ow ow!” She put the cup down quickly and stuck her tongue out, trying to fan it with her hand.

  
  


“Oh, you dork.”  Tevy handed her a cup of cold water.  “Still not used to this human thing are you?”  Tevy took her incredibly sweet tea to her recliner and nested herself in it, Spud trotting over and jumping into her lap.  “And well, it would be nice to have someone I can tolerate working the club with me.  I can get Crowley to do anything I want including let you in.  Despite the shitty situation, it is a perk to have that man wrapped around my finger.”  She blew on her tea and stirred it a little, Spud sniffing the mug curiously.

 

Beth gratefully took the cup of water. “Before the Fall, I’d only been down here a few times, maybe 5 or 6 at the most. They were all within my vessel’s lifetime, so she’s the only one I’ve ever been in. This last time, she was a coma patient when the Fall happened. She’s gone…I’m pretty sure. And isn’t your job dancing?” She blushed slightly. “I’m not exactly…good at dancing…I could learn, but I’m not sure how good I’d be at it…” She sipped her tea again, more careful this time, her burnt tongue tingling slightly. “I’m really good at crafts and knitting…maybe if I got the right tools…I could sell some items that I make?”

  
  
  


“You don’t have to be good, you have the body for it, and honestly not even that matters to those pigs.”  She sipped her tea, petting Spud.  “But if you don’t want to, you could get a job as a bartender there, it would be pretty sweet working together.  And you could always sell your shit on the side.”

 

“I suppose…if you’d be willing to teach me. I could make some rent money to pay you back for letting me stay here…” Beth fidgeted. “Damn….I’ve got an itch in the most ridiculous spot…” She stiffened slightly, trying to ignore it. “Anyways, would you like me to make you anything once I get some yarn and needles or hooks? I could make you a blanket or something…whatever you want.”

 

Tevy smiled, “Sure, why not.  Or you could make Spud a sweater.”  Spud looked up and tilted his head as she said this.  “And maybe working the bar might be the best option for you if you aren’t that stage savvy.”

 

Beth laughed. “I can see what I can do. I could make you a kickass scarf too, if you wanted, to go along with your outfit when you dance. All spiderwebby looking and junk!” She fidgeted again slightly, moving her shoulders uncomfortably. “I suppose I could work the bar…though the idea of interacting with demons…unsettles me slightly.”

 

“They’re easier to deal with than Angels, trust me… and Crowley already seems to like you well enough.”

 

Beth shrugged. “I guess we’ll just have to ask him the next time he swings around. Speaking of…he seemed upset the last time you ordered him out…think he likes you?”

 

“Crowley’s a demon, he’s incapable of ‘liking’ someone, they aren’t capable of emotion, Beth.  He’s probably just putting on a show.

 

Beth tilted her head. “Maybe. Just saying…those were pretty good crocodile tears he was using then.” She sighed decisively, then in frustration. “Damn it…Tev, can you help me out? Got this damn itch I can’t get….”

 

Tevy raised a brow, “Where?”

 

Beth blushed deeply. “Um…on my wing…it’s like one of the furthest parts so I can’t reach it.” She flushed deeper.

 

“Sure,” Tevy stood up and walked behind Beth, “I can’t touch them if I can’t see em, dude.”

 

Beth nodded, and manifested them slowly, her feathers slightly reminiscent of a nuthatch’s coloring. She stretched out the offending wing and pointed. “It’s right there.”

 

Tevy walked over to the spot and pointed, “Here?”  Spud sniffed her wings happily and licked one of her longer feathers.

 

Beth nodded, and giggled slightly as Spud licked her feather. “Spud, no, that tickles!”

 

Tevy pushed Spud away with her foot and reached for the spot that itched, digging her nails in slightly.  Her touch wasnt very gentle, but it got the job done.  She kept scratching, “Better?”

 

Beth nodded, shifting slightly. “Um, yeah. Thanks.” She picked up her tea and sipped it again. “So what color would you want Spud’s sweater to be?”

 

“I don’t know,” she smiled, sitting back down, Spud jumped back in her lap, “I think neon green is his color.”

 

Beth grinned. “Like almost mint chocolate? That’s what black and green always reminds me off…” She looked down into her empty cup. “I can start working on it when I have the tools, but I need money to do that. So how about we work on getting me a job first, eh?”

 

“Sounds good to me,” Tevy looked at the clock, “Its like 4 AM, dude, gotta get to the club at like 3-4 in the afternoon if we wanna talk to Crowley.”  She got up and stretched, yawning.  “Which means I am taking this ass,” she points to her ass, “In there,” Points to her room, “to bed.”

 

Beth nodded. “Alright, sounds like a plan.” She stood up from the table, and stretched, semi-forgetting that her wings were still out. One wing brushed past Spud, and the other bumped against the fridge. She looked around, sheepish. “Ooops. Sorry!” She quickly made the wings disappear, and walked over to the couch, flopping on it sleepily. “Think we need to do anything more for the cats?”

 

“She should be fine so long as shes got water and food in there.”  Tevy walked to her room and said, “See you in the AM, G-unit.”

 

Beth laid back on the couch, sighing as the cushy couch hugged her aching body. “Glad that itch was taken care of quickly. If she’d messed with it any longer…mmf. That would’ve been awkwards.”

 

Spud ran out of the bedroom with a big black blanket in his muzzle and carried it to Beth, dropping it on the floor next to the couch, then grabbing a pillow from the chair and tossing it at her.  He made a hellish noise that sort of sounded like a bark, licked her cheek and then ran back into the bedroom.

 

Beth grinned, slightly surprised. “Well, whaddya know. Room service.” She whispered “Thanks!” and pulled the blanket over herself, and grabbed the pillow, fluffing it under her head. Before long, she was drifting gently off to sleep.

 


	4. Hell’s Angels

The next morning, Tevy woke up in a cold sweat, panting.  Her dreams were haunting her again.  She hopped out of bed and grabbed her robe, opening her bedroom door and letting Spud run out like a bat outa hell.  He ran right to the glass balcony door and began scraping at it with is big paws.  Tevy followed him and quickly opened the balcony for him.  Spud bolted out into the city.  “Jesus…”  She whisper sleepily, walking to the bathroom.

 

Beth stirred slightly in her sleep, twitching every now and then, her eyes moving under her eyelids. She sighed, murmuring softly as she dreamed.

 

Tevy started the shower and peeked out at Beth.  Should probably get her up…. Tevy shut her eyes and appeared to think something deeply.  Spud came running back into the apartment and up to Tevy.  “Go wake up Beth.” she commanded.

Spud nodded and trotted over to Beth, climbing up onto the sofa and laying on top of her.  He licked her face a few times before sitting up and making a rooster call, putting his big paw on her face.

Beth jolted upright, nearly reaching for her angel blade, then froze, and looked at Spud. “Wait…what?! Rooster?” She groaned slightly, flopping back on the couch. “Morning, Spud.” She rolled over and put the pillow over her head.

 

Spud wagged happily and barked a few time before tugging on Beth’s sleeve, trying to get her up.

 

Beth moaned in exasperation. “Nooo, Spud. Go away. Bother Tevy or something.” She rolled, moving to face the back of the couch.

 

Spud backed up and bowed, wiggling his butt in the air before leaping at the back of the couch and flipping it over onto its back with Beth in it.

 

Beth yelled as the couch pitched her out, dumping her onto the floor. “Damn it, Spud!” She pulled herself up into a sitting position. “Guess I’d better go check on the cats while I’m up.” She got up, and walked over to the cat’s basket, smiling as she saw the kittens curled up with their mother. The mother looked up and meowed a welcome to Beth when she saw her, and Beth smiled.

 

Moments later, Tevy stepped out of the bathroom in her robe with a toothbrush in her mouth.  “Oh, hey, you’re up.”  She said, walking past her towards her room.  “Get ready, we are gunna need to leave soon.”  She shut the door to her room to get dressed.  Spud was sitting proudly upon the dumped over sofa that his master didn’t even seem to notice.

 

Beth nodded. “Should I be wearing something nice, or will this do for where we’re going?” She plucked at the clothes she was wearing, the baggy shirt and jeans hanging loosely on her body. She walked over and placed the couch back upright.

 

Tevy opened the door as she finished buckling her black, lace bra over her fishnet shirt.  Her entire belly was showing through her nets, her skirt seemed shorter than the shorts she was wearing the day before and her fishnet tights were a little more ripped up than before as well.  She threw a low cut tank top that had the AC/DC logo on it and a pair of black shorts on the couch.  “You can borrow those, pretty sure they will fit ya.”  Tevy strutted to the bathroom where she donned her black leather, spiked collar and various metal bracelets before straightening her long mohawk to one side of her head.

 

Beth stuttered something under her breath. “O-ok..” She grabbed the clothes and hurried to the bathroom, where she changed quickly. She gasped slightly when she looked in the mirror. The top hugged every curve, the shorts left little to the imagination, showing the self-harm scars that her vessel had carved into her legs and arms, the most prominent and most raised being on her wrists. Beth frowned slightly, then shook it off. She quickly brushed her hair til it was silky smooth and let it cascade down her body, falling to her waist. Once she was done, she walked out of the bathroom. “So…how do I look?”

 

Tevy smiled, “Innocent.”  She dug in her dresser and grabbed a new pair of fishnet tights and a few leather wrist cuffs and through them at Beth.  “Will those help at all?”  She began putting on her make up in the vanity mirror in her room.

 

Beth grabbed a few of the wrist cuffs, and snapped them on each of her wrists which hid the deepest scars on her wrists. “Thanks, but I’ll pass on the tights.” She bent down and started petting Spud as she waited for Tevy to get done.

 

“Know how to put on make up at all?”

 

Beth’s blue eyes flashed up at her. “Heh…no idea. Never used before in this life.”

 

“Well come here and get your war paint on, girl!”  Tevy pulled Beth to her vanity and stood her under the light, working her magic and drawing a little bit of eyeliner on her eyelid and then making her lashes all big and flaunty with some mascara.  “Kay, no don’t touch your eyes!”

  
  


Beth fidgeted. “But my eyes are watering!!” She tried to rub her eyes again, but strongly resisted. “It feels really weird! How do you deal with this stuff? Honestly…”

 

Tevy laughed, “You get used to it!  Just whatever you do don’t rub your eyes unless you want to look like a raccoon!”

 

The two of them left the apartment and Tevy lead Beth to the alleyway where the portal was.  She let them in and lead her down the steps into the club.  It was quiet, but only because it was before opening time.  “This way,” she said, peeking back at Beth to make sure she was okay.  They were walking down a hallway with a bunch of rooms, the door signs seemed to have various numbers or names written on them.

 

“So, um…are those the dressing rooms or something?” Beth fiddled with a ring on her finger that was made of three interlocking rings, and it functioned as a puzzle, something for her to mess with when she was nervous.

 

“Some of them,” Tevy spoke over her shoulder, “Others are sex rentals, some are offices,”  She stopped at a big metal door that had a decent amount of blood splatters and dent in it.  “This one is the torture room.  It’s usually never in use unless Marcus is around.  He was trained by Alastair himself.  Man’s a genius when it comes to torture.”  Tevy continued on down the hall.

 

Beth made a face. “Well, it makes sense. It is that kind of club…and it is in hell. I won’t venture near that room if my life depended on it…” She skittered past the door and kept close by Tevy’s side. “So where are we headed? Crowley’s office?”

 

“Yup!” Tevy turned a corner to a big double door and knocked.

 

“Whadda you want?” Crowley’s voice rang out from the other side.

 

“Its me, Crowley…”  Tevy shook her head.  After a moment Crowley opened the door, he was wearing an extremely expensive looking silk robe and his eyes were reddened, hair messy and face scruffier than it had been the day before.  He grabbed Tevy and pulled her in close.

“Bloody hell, Tevy, you’re okay…”  Crowley’s voice seemed a lot softer than usual as well, he kissed Tevy tenderly on the lips, brushing her hair back and looking into her eyes.

 

“Uh, yeah…” Tevy said, scoffing, “I’m fine… What’s gotten into you, dude?  Can we come in?”

 

“Oh, uh…” Crowley paused, noticing Beth and blushing a little, “Yes, come in.”  Crowley lead them into the office, snapping his fingers and appearing in his usual suit.  Though his messy hair and red eyes still remained.  Tevy looked at his desk to see syringes dripping with blood and then over to the TV.  HBO’s “Girls” was on.

 

“You okay, Crowley?”  Tevy cocked a brow as she looked at Crowley.

 

“Fine,” He answered, “I said I was fine…”

 

Tevy walked up to him and held his chin, making him look at her, “You been crying!?”

 

“No… just… What did you come here for?”

 

“Beth needs a job, I think you should give her the bartending job… Jerry sucks at it and he’s an eye sore, Beth is sexy and more people will want to hang around and buy drinks from her.”  Tevy crossed her arms, making her tits pop out.

 

Beth gritted her teeth; She’d noticed the bloody syringes a second after Tevy had, and immediately had gotten woozy from it. She swayed, gripping the wall she was next to for support. “I will NOT pass out again.”

 

“Whoa there duckie,” Crowley rushed over to Beth as she gripped the wall and held her up, holding her hand with the one of his he wasn’t using to support her back.  He walked her over to a recliner in front of his TV and made her sit.  “Take it easy…you alright?”

 

Beth rolled her eyes. “You think I’d be used to seeing blood. But no, I see blood, and conk, there I go.” She made a frustrated noise under her breath. “Hate being weak.” She looked at Crowley. “What are you watching?”

 

Crowley blushes and snapped the TV off.  “Oh… No idea what that was, it was on after my show…”

 

“On HBO?”  Tevy crossed her arms and smirked, “What were YOU watching on HBO?  Trueblood?  Vampire softcore porn?  or maybe some late night adult programs?”

 

Crowley glared at her, thinking of a HBO show to spit out and cover the fact that he had been watching sappy, drama sitcoms marketed to women.  “Band of Brothers…”

 

“Bullshit, Band of Brothers hasn’t aired in years on HBO.”  Tevy grinned evilly.  “I know, I watched it all when it was on.  That guy who plays Skip Muck is quite the eye candy.”

 

Crowley glared harder and walked over to Tevy, looking her in the eyes.  “Don’t toy with me, angel.”

 

“Don’t make it so easy, Demon.”

Crowley scoffed and walked over to Beth.  “So, you want a job,eh?”

 

Beth nodded, still slightly woozy. “If it’s alright with you…Tevy asked me to stay with her…and I’d like to pay her some rent of some kind…to thank her for picking me up off the street the way she did..” She shook her head slightly, trying to get it clear so she could think straight again, instead of having that hot/cold sensation right before she usually lost it and went under.

 

“You would be a huge step up from Jerry…”  Crowley pondered a moment.

 

“Fuckin’ Jerry…” Tevy shook her head.

 

“You’re more than welcome to it if you would like.  I would ask if you know how to mix drinks but its not like it matters, Jerry sure as hell cant.”

 

“Fuckin’….. Jerry…..”

 

“Plus, you will learn as you go if anything.  You start tonight.  Tevy can show you where.” He took her hand in both of his and patted it gently, looking into her eyes.

 

Beth blinked. “That’s it? I’m hired with no job experience at all?” She ran her hand through her hair. “And here I was getting nervous for nothing.” She winked at Tevy, and struggled to her feet.

“You’re a friend of Tevys.” Crowley walked back over to Tevy, “And you’re also an angel, they will love you.”

 

“You’re also not Jerry…”  Tevy said, arms still crossed, looking sassy as ever.  “Lets go get you ready, shall we?”  Tevy patted Crowley on the shoulder and started to walk away before Crowley took her hand, stopping her.  She turned to look at him.

 

“You’ll come find me, later?”  He asked, his voice pathetically gentle.

 

“Sure?”  Tevy said, taking her hand back and walking out the door, “Let’s go, Beth.”

 

Beth joined Tevy in the hallway. Once they were out of earshot, Beth burst into giggles. “Ok, correct me if I’m wrong, but did we just catch the king of hell watching ‘Girls’? And his eyes were red; he’s been crying. What’s wrong with him?”

 

“I have no idea,”  She strut down the hall, shaking her head, “Those needles though… I think he’s shooting something… some kind of blood?  But I don’t know what or who’s.  I have never seen him like this.  You ready to go up there or do you need to fix your make up or anything?”

 

Beth looked at Tevy exasperatedly. “Tevy, I’ve never worn it before. I have no idea. Does it look ok to you? And to be honest, I’m kinda nervous. The only drinks I’ve ever made before were tea and hot chocolate. What am I supposed to do? Is there some kind of manual I can speed-read?”

 

Tevy laughed and walked towards the club doors, “You look fine and yeah theres a little booklet behind the bar about how to mix the drinks but remember they’re demons, they won’t be picky about their alcohol unless they’re one of the big names that come through like Marcus or Cain.  But they hardly ever come in here.”  She opened the doors to a large room.  It was empty for now, besides the few employees lingering about.  To their left was the bar and a few tables around it.  The bar itself was a huge U shape counter with stools around it.

To their right was the stage.  There were various high tables and sofas, chairs and stools scattered everywhere in front and to the sides of the stage.  5 silver poles came up out of the stage and into the ceiling.  “That’s where I work.” She said pointed to the stage.  “You,” She turned Beth to the bar, “Are over here.”

The two of them walked to the bar where no one was besides a short, ugly little man standing behind the counter.  He was greasy, didn’t seem to have bathed in ages and you could hear him breathing from a few feet away.

“Jerry!”  Tevy said, “Crowley said you’re fired.”  Jerry frowned and looked up at Tevy angrily.  “Hey man, King’s orders.”

“I don’t take orders from skanks like you.”  Jerry hissed, spitting as he spoke.

Tevy shook her head and took her phone out, dialing a number and holding it to her ear.  “She, Jerry.”  She whispered to Beth.  She waited a moment listening to the dial tone.  “Marcus?  Yeah, its Tevy, the skank angel.”  Jerry looked up in a panic when he heard the name of the man on the other end of the phone.  “I need you to come up to the bar and take care of someone.  Thanks.”  She hung up and slipped her phone into her bra.

“You wouldn’t” Jerry growled, “You’re bluffing.”

 

At that moment, Marcus bursts through the doors, holding a dagger in one hand and polishing it with a cloth in the other.  He walked up to the bar and up to Jerry.  “Oh, Jerry,” he said, in his terrifying yet horribly nasally voice.  “The lady said you need to leave.” Marcus grinned evilly and grabbed Jerry’s arm, disappearing into thin air with Jerry.

 

“Fuckin’ Jerry, man…” Tevy sighed and walked behind the bar.

 

Beth stood for a minute, amazed. “Man, Tevy, you’re brutal.” She chuckled. “No wonder the king of hell likes you…” She walked up to the bar and went around the back, taking stock of the items she had. “Let’s see….manual…manual…ah! Here’s one!” She grabbed a stained old book and started flipping through it at a moderate pace. She was silent for about five minutes as she read, then looked back up at Tevy and grinned. “I think we should be good to go!” She bit her lip as she turned away. “Hopefully…”

 

Tevy smiled, pouring two shots of jack, “He doesn’t like me,” She said, sliding Beth the shot, “I’m just a convenience to him.”  She smiled, picking up the shot glass and raising it to Beth before taking it.

 

Beth took the shot from Tevy, and raised it to her. “Well, to our loved ones, then.” She threw back the shot, swallowing the drink and choking slightly as the fiery alcohol burned its way down to her stomach. “Wow…that’s a bit stronger than most I’ve had.” She wheezed and shook it off. “I’m gonna have to get better at holding my liquor if I’m going to work at this place…”

“You will,” Tevy laughed, slapping her on the back.  “I’m gunna go get ready, I’m on in an hour and Crowley’s gunna be pissed if I don’t see him before hand.”

 

Beth grinned. “Don’t let him rough you up too bad. I can only heal you so much, you know, my power cell’s kinda running low lately.” She winked. “Have fun!” She ducked under the bar and surveyed which alcohols she had in her inventory, mentally making up a list of drinks.

 

Tevy Smiled, “I’ll be fine.  The wounds always add to my flair on stage anyways.”  She strutted away, noticing more demons showing up, she made sure her ass swayed more dramatically than normal as she walked out of the room, successfully turning heads.

 


	5. Jail Birds

The rattle of his chains rang out in the dark as he tried to move his wings even slightly.  How long had he been chained up like this?  Naked, used and bloodied, the archangel shivered in pain and exhaustion.  Gabriel was chained by the arms, legs, wings and his neck.  He wanted to know how he had gotten there.  Why?

He could hear him pacing on the other side of the room, he wanted to call out to him but he knew Michael wouldn’t speak to him.  The only one who bothered talking to him was the other brother, the morning star.  Lucifer.  

Last time Lucifer had bothered with him, he told him Daddy threw him in there with the two of them for his actions, hiding away for too long and impersonating a norse god.  Daddy said the real Loki wasn’t too thrilled about it either.  Now there were three Archangels in the cage.  Their own little box of chaos and insanity.

“Luci…” Gabriel’s voice was weak and raspy from the endless torture and screaming.  “Let me down… please?”

All that could be heard from across the room was a small chuckle. “Now, why would I do that, ‘brother’?”

“Haven’t you had enough of me?” Gabriel could barely breathe,  “At least unchain my wings…  They’re throbbing..”  He couldn’t see them, but his wings were bleeding all over the floor from the heavy chains digging into his skin and his struggling didn’t help anything.  “Michael…?”

Michael sighed and moved to a farther spot, “You did this to yourself, Gabriel.  You were foolish.”

Lucifer got up from his seat in the corner. “What, are you ready for round 1,3498 of ‘How loudly can I make the trickster scream’?” Lucifer grinned at him, playing with a knife in his hand. “Don’t you get it? Even your other brother agrees that you did this to yourself. Which, makes you my new favorite toy, since apparently I didn’t kill you in the first place, and I don’t have little Sammy Winchester anymore since Death yanked his soul out.” He drew the knife across Gabriel’s bicep, cutting deep.

 

Gabriel gritted his teeth, groaning deeply in pain.  “I had every reason to run away and hide after the bullshit the two of you pulled… I wanted nothing to do with it.”  He tensed up feeling the blood flow down his arm.  “We have been over this a hundred times, Luci…  Just stop this.”

 

Lucifer tapped his chin. “You know, that’s such a convincing argument, Gabe! I might just do that!” He paused a second. “Oh wait, I really don’t give a fuck!” He drew the knife across Gabriel’s chest deeply, causing blood to gush from him.

 

Gabe gritted his teeth, throwing his head back.  He was sick of screaming and crying.  His body shook in pain.  “You… can’t tell me you don’t give a fuck, Luci… I know you…”  Gabriel wished he could see his brother.  He tensed his wings and shut his eyes, they were pulsing in pain.  “Don’t you remember when we were young?  We used to play together… You would take care of me when Dad couldn’t.  Those nights flying over the world together… Watching Dad’s little pets together and laughing at how dumb they were?”

Lucifer’s smile faded. “Yeah, and then everything changed when the fire nation attacked. That was then, and this is now. We’re all stuck in this stupid -pit-, and I’m boooooooored.” He leaned in, and whispered into Gabriel’s ear. “So entertain me, little brother.” He jabbed the knife into Gabriel’s leg sharply.

  
  


Gabriel cried out this time, his wings reacted to the pain and attempting to flail in their chains, causing him greater pain that ran through his entire body.  “Remember when we used to help Dad create all those silly creatures down there?”  Gabe wheezed, his teeth chattering, “Or… the pranks we used to pull together on Michael and Raph?  We used to have so much fun together, Luci, you can’t tell me that doesn’t still mean something to you…”

 

Lucifer snorted shortly. “Yeah…you made that wacky duck beaver thing; Dad didn’t know what to do with it. He put it in Australia with my camel spiders and drop bears….I’m surprised it lasted so long.” He paused. Then he drew the knife in a slow, agonizing arch over Gabriel’s forehead. “But you know what, Simba? That doesn’t change the fact that you’re my bitch in here.”

 

A tear ran down Gabriel’s cheek, mixing with the flow of blood trickling from his forehead.  “Lucifer…You used to tell me you loved me… That doesn’t go away…”

 

“Oh, I do, little brother. I did. You have no -idea- how much it hurt, when I thought I’d killed you for good, that last time. So I’m punishing you. Making you feel, what I felt, when you wouldn’t listen.” He jabbed the blade into Gabriel’s other thigh, and twisted the blade in a circle as he drew it out. Then he paused. “Then again…I could just mentally torture you along with physical torture…the worst pain you’ll ever know….Whatddya say, Bro? Wanna play that game as well, to pass the time?”

 

Gabriel panted as he looked up at Lucifer, his head hanging slightly.  “What more can you possibly say or do to me to break me farther, Lucifer?”

 

Lucifer smiled. “All I have to say is one word, little brother. You wanna hear it?” He twirled the knife in his hand. “It’ll be so fun…well, at least for me, it will be.”

 

Gabe sighed, still shaking in his chains.  He slowly raised a brow, staring up at his brother, barely able to see him in the darkness.

 

Lucifer grinned. “I need an answer, or I’ll continue with the knife. I know you’re thinking to yourself, ‘what can he say to make me hurt? How can anything hurt more than the knife?’ You’re weighing the risks…” He flipped the knife in the air, caught it, and stabbed him in the lower chest.

 

“Just say it, you dick!!” Gabriel hissed, rattling his chains as he lurched forward at Lucifer.

 

He grinned, smiling widely at his angered younger brother. “Tevy.”

 

Gabriel’s eyes widened and his heart stopped.  “W-what?  H-how do you know that name?”

 

Lucifer shrugged. “Sam might have snuck in some wifi while he was down here. I browsed Facebook, caught up on all the naughtys, you know, surfed the web. And I heard some buzz about….Tevy. That….little renagade angel who rebelled against Zach back after she was created.”

 

“What ‘buzz’, Lucifer?” he hissed, venom starting to drip in his tone.

 

Lucifer avoided his gaze pointedly, smiling as he played with the tip of his knife. “Well…who puts stock in rumor you know? It’s just…they say..that…she’s playing for the wrong team now.”

Gabriel’s heart was racing, “What do you mean the wrong team?  What… What are you talking about?”  Gabriel was growling at this point.

 

Lucifer grinned. “Well, from what I’ve heard, the self-proclaimed ‘King of Hell’, the squirt who took over when I was thrown in the cage again….from what I’ve heard, he’s taken quite the interest in her.” He flicked some blood from his blade, cleaning it scrupulously.

 

“Crowley?” Gabriel’s brow furrowed and the bridge of his nose scrunched up, “What has he done to her?”  His chains rattled as his arms strained.

 

“Lucifer,” Michael sighed, “Don’t.”

 

“No,” Gabriel barked, “Fucking tell me what he did to her, Lucifer!”

 

Lucifer raised an eyebrow in Michael’s direction. “Mikey, he’s begging me to. Why should I stop?” He winked at Gabriel.

 

“Because, he’s broken enough as it is,” Michael started, but was soon cut off by Gabriel.

 

“Shut up, Michael!  I have to know now, you ass, just tell me!”

 

Grinning, Lucifer went and sat back down in his seat. “…Nah. I think I’ll let you stew for a little bit. Test the theory if curiosity really does kill the cat, you know?” He manifested a bag of popcorn and started to chow down, watching Gabriel struggle like a fly in a web.

 

Gabriel stared at his brother, wide eyed and frozen in his chains.  “Lucifer…”  

 

Michael shook his head and sighed, pacing again, unwilling to put himself in this bullshit.

 

“FUCK YOU, MORNING STAR!! TELL ME!!”  Gabriel’s eyes flickered a dim golden light, his wings beating against the chains making them tear at his feathers, ripping his flesh.  

 

Lucifer merely laughed. “See, Gabe? Mental torture is the way to go. You’re hurting yourself more this way than anything else I could do to you.” He popped a handful of popcorn into his mouth.

 

Gabriel’s eye twitched as he glared at his brother.  Rage and pain festering inside of him.  “LUCIFER!!!”

* * *

 

Tevy sighed heavily as she stepped up to the curtains back stage.  She was so confused and already exhausted.  Crowley hadn’t wanted to fuck her, he had her come over there to talk to him.  She wasn’t even sure about what after it had happened.  She couldn’t wait for her number to be over so she could sit at the bar and talk to Beth.

When she heard her cue, Tevy plastered a fake smile on her face and strutted out on the stage, making a beeline for the front pole and gripping it when she got there.  Tevy spun herself around the metal rod, moving with the music, her torso moving like a snake, taunting the cheering pigs in front of the stage.  She climbed up the pole and held herself up with her legs, letting go with her hands and bending backwards, turning upside down and facing the crowd.  She opened her mouth, flickering her tongue and holding out her arms, beckoning more applause from the Demons.

 

Beth smiled as she chatted nonchalantly with the various demons that came up searching for refreshment. She had started pouring drinks like a pro after only that five minute reading session of the manual, and she had already started experimenting, mixing new drinks, taste-testing them before she would serve them. If they were good, she’d offer the new drink to the next comer to the bar. If not, she’d dump them, or find another alcohol to mix them with, see if she could make it better. She paused in mid-conversation with a particularly flirtatious demon, watching Tevy dance. “Wow. Who knew she could move that way?” She smiled in amazement and turned back to her conversation, realizing a second later that a question had been posed to her by the man. “I’m sorry, did you ask if I had a boyfriend?”

 

The male demon spoke in a slight Irish accent, “Tha’s right, do ya, sweet heart?”  He eyed her up like meat as he sipped his drink.

 

She laughed lightly. “As a matter of fact, I do.” She poured another demon’s drink for them, and slid it down their way.

 

“Well,” The demon said, “He here?”  He raised a brow, looking right in her eyes.

 

She frowned, slightly confused. “No, he’s not. He’s…kinda busy with other stuff right now.” She checked his drink. “Can I pour you another one?”

 

“No, but,” He grinned slyly, “I know something you can do for me, hot stuff.”  The demon’s eyes went black as he began to reach for Beth.  A hand gripped the demon’s arms and snatched it away.  Crowley pushed the kid off his stool and smirked, “You leave this one alone, and I won’t snap your arm off, understood?”  The young demon ran out the door in fear as Crowley took his spot.

Beth grimaced slightly. “Crowley, I was fine. I could’ve handled him.” She sighed. “What’ll you have? Brandy? Rum? Whiskey?” She pulled out a couple glasses and waited.

 

“Craig.  The one in the bottle in the corner is mine.  Aged at least 30 years.” he smirked as he looked into her eyes, a hint of seduction behind his own.

Beth saw the seduction, and rolled her eyes. “Coming right up, King.” She walked over, got the bottle and corresponding glass, and poured it, handing it to him when she was done. She tilted her head towards Tevy. “She’s quite the dancer. You picked a good one up top.”

 

Crowley laughed lightly and rubbed his face, trying to cover up the fact that he was blushing.  “She is, indeed.  She’s the best I got.  I never miss her show either.”  He looked at his glass and bit his lip slightly.

 

Beth laughed. “You’re in love with her, aren’t you?” She shook her head. “You’re totally head over heels for her, and you’re acting like a teenage boy!” She pulled out a shot glass and poured herself a shot of fireball and downed it straight, then looked him dead in the eyes. “So…what are you going to do about it?”

 

He looked up at her, slouching and covering his face behind his wrist, glass in hand.  “Is it obvious?”

Beth smirked and leaned in close. “Blaringly.” She chuckled. “Honestly, I think it’s a bit adorable. Big bad ‘tough’ guy falling for the so called ‘good girl’, who underneath the angel get up is just a lover and a fighter at the same time. It’s almost poetic.” She grinned, but then the smile turned bittersweet and a bit rueful as she remembered how close it was to her own love life. She sighed softly and poured herself another shot, downing that one quickly too.

 

Crowley took a swig of his drink and shook his head.  “I think thats why I treat her the way I do… I don’t want it to be true…  I never used to feel like…. anything!”  He sighed, lifting the glass to his lips, “How do you live like this… with these… Feelings?”  The word dripped from his lips like poison before he took another swig.

 

Beth smirked. “It’s hard. Why do you think humans have such a hard time dealing with them? We just…have a bit harder time doing it ourselves, being non-human. But you know…it’s not all bad. Feelings lend…a whole new dimension to life. To relationships. It’s beautiful in its own way…So, Crowley…if you love her so much…why do you beat her during and after you fuck her? If anything…I think that’s why she believes you don’t care.” She poured herself a half shot, feeling a bit buzzed. She drank it, and wiped her mouth. “Treat her more like an angel, and less like a sex slave, and maybe she’ll figure it out.”

 

“And then what?” he held his empty glass out, “She clearly doesn’t feel the same way… and I don’t know what she tells you but she begs me for it when I ‘hurt’ her… Has she told you about the number shes done on me?  She’s bit my neck so hard it bleeds at least once every session.”

 

“Oh, I’m sure. I would do the same in her position if I came out of each session with a swollen and bloodied up face. Crowley, she looked like she’d been in a barfight the last time she came out of a ‘session’ with you. I don’t see a fucking mark on you, bite or otherwise.” Beth’s voice hardened slightly, as she reached for the glass and refilled it. “Women don’t, and can’t respect a man who abuse them that way. And even if she begs for it during your ‘sessions’…how do you know she’s not just doing that cause she knows it gets your rocks off?” Beth broke off speaking to pour some drinks for some other demons that had walked up, and were wanting to order. Once she was done, she came back and leaned on her elbows. “Look. If you wanna win her heart, don’t treat her less than what she is. And that’s an angel. That’s all I can really say about that.” She went to turn away. “Afterall…how else do you think Lucifer won my heart?” She turned her back on Crowley and started wiping glasses.

 

As Beth turned away, Crowley’s eyes widened.  Did she just say Lucifer?  His eyes followed her from behind his glass.  Lucifer?!  His head almost exploded, flowing with feelings about how she had just flat out laid down the law about how he’s been shitty to Tevy and then realizing he was talking to the love interest of the man whose throne he had taken over.  His face suddenly turned white.

 

Beth watched his face in the bar’s mirror, still wiping one of the newly washed glasses. “Looks like I got through to him.” She turned around, a smile on her face. “So, King…can I top off your glass?”

 

He pushed his glass to her, “Keep ‘em coming, I’m gunna need it.”  He stared into her eyes and squinted.

 

Beth returned his gaze with resolve, taking his glass and refiling it, and handing it back to him. “Have you even told her that you love her yet?”

  
  


“Am I supposed to?” He took his drink and downed it.

 

Beth sighed. “God, you really are naive. Yes, Crowley, if you love her, and really mean it, then women like to be told. Cause there’s a world of assholes out there that just take advantage of women. If you do, then tell her when she’s most likely to believe you. Which would be after you start actually treating her nice. You want her to be your ‘queen’? Treat her like it. And if you love her, first tell her with your actions. Because actions, are what give words their meaning.” She took his glass and refilled it yet again.

  
  


Crowley’s eyes widened when she said the word ‘queen’.  “I… Thank you,” His voice seemed to crack, “I have.. to go…” He took his glass and vanished into thin air.


	6. Booze and Divulged Secrets

Beth sighed. “Well, crap. Hope I didn’t say anything too drastic to get my ass fired on the first day.”She continued wiping glasses, and looked up, realizing that the music had changed, and Tevy wasn’t on stage anymore. “Hmm…where’d she go?”

 

At that moment, Tevy stepped up and hopped onto a stool.  “Hey man.”  She was glowing, “Man, I missed that.  I gotta stop letting Crowley distract me.”  She pulled her hair up into a messy bun, “Wanna grab me some Red Stag Whiskey, sugar?”  

 

Beth grinned. “Coming right up, doll.” She busied herself getting the drink ready, and once she was done, she slid the glass over. “Good crowd tonight? ‘Good’ being the relative term, obviously?”

  
  


Tevy grinned, “Yeah, they’re all pigs.”  She sipped the drink happily, “Where did his majesty go off to anyways?  I thought I saw him talking to you.”

 

Beth shrugged. “Yeah, we were talking. I’m not sure where he went, he just said he had to go.” She poured herself one last glass of Fireball, then looked at the bottle. “Shit…I think I’ve nearly emptied this myself…”

 

Tevy laughed, “Shit, bro, you’re not supposed to drink all the alcohol before the night’s even over!”  

 

Beth grinned slightly hazily, the alcohol slowly to finally work on her. “I’ll be fine. We were…talking about some heavy stuff, and I needed it.” She shrugged again. “It’s whatever.”

 

“Uh huh… Well, Arline should be here in a minute and you will be off for the night and we can go to the lounge and chill with Crowley for a bit before we go home.”  She jumped over the counter and grabbed the bottle of Jim Beam, taking a swig.  “So what was the heavy shit you two were talking about?”

 

Beth laughed. “Oh you know, just girl talk. So what alcohol should we take with us to Crowley’s? He’s already had at least 5 drinks or so when he was talking with me. I wanna get him shitfaced, just for shit and giggles.” Her face lit up sadistically with mischief glinting in her eyes. “You game?”

 

Tevy laughed, “You wanna get him shitfaced?  You know what whiskey dick is?  When a guy can’t get it up when he’s drunk.  Yeah, well he’s the opposite.  You sure you wanna see that side of him?”  She sipped another bit of her whiskey, laughing out loud.

 

Beth started giggling uncontrollably. “Dude I just wanna get a pic of him drunk as fuck. Giant ass penis or not, let’s prank him. It’ll be fun!”

 

She laughed again, “Fine, but I’m not saving you if he started humping!”  Tevy grabbed the other bottle of Jim Beam Red Stag and hopped over the bar when she saw Arline walk behind the bar.

 

Beth laughed with a knowing look. “Oh trust me. He won’t be able to lay a finger on me.” She grabbed a bottle of Jack Daniels and followed Tevy. 

* * *

 

“Lucifer,” Michael sighed, “If you don’t tell him, his struggling is going to tear his wings apart.  Just end this already…”

 

Lucifer groaned and rolled his eyes. “Mikey, you’re such a spoilsport. Sides, he might just tear them off if I tell him. So what’s the difference?”

 

“Because at least if he knows, he can work over it instead of wondering about it till it kills him.”  Michael looked over to Gabriel, a light of some kind coming from his direction.  Gabriel’s wings had been bleeding badly and he was now beginning to bleed grace.  It glowed bright enough to light up the room, exposing how beaten and bruised he really was.  

 

Lucifer looked at him, looking somewhat concerned for the first time. “Gabe…stop.” He sighed, and snapped his fingers, the popcorn disappearing and the chains released him, causing him to fall to the ground. He slowly walked over, and tended to his wounds. Before long, his skin was whole again.

 

Gabriel remained on the floor, curled up, his hair in his face.  He was still wheezing, still in pain.  “Just tell me, you fucking prick.”

 

Lucifer’s face hardened. “Watch your tone, Gabriel, and I will.”

 

Gabriel shot up and grabbed his brother by the collar with both hands, hovering in the air, his wings beating.  “Watch my tone?!  Why should I watch my tone with you after all this!?  You’ve beat me and cut me and used me, and I can’t even call you a prick?!  You’re killing me brother, and I still stand here and tell you how much I love you and wish to high heaven that you somehow have some shred of respect for me!  JUST TELL ME BEFORE I GO OUT OF MY MIND!”

 

Lucifer didn’t react to being grabbed, maintaining a neutral face. “I’m not telling you -because- I love you. To ease your mind, however, I will tell you this. He hasn’t killed her. He hired her. She’s a dancer at his stripper club. That’s -all- I will tell you.”

 

“Lucifer,” Michael said, disappointment dripping from his tongue.  

 

“There’s more, isn’t there… Lucifer, if you EVER loved me, you will tell me everything you know.  That woman is the only woman I have ever loved this much, and you TOOK ME AWAY FROM HER when she fucking needed me, now tell me everything you know!”

 

Lucifer’s face contorted for the first time in something almost resembling sadness. “How would it prove that I love you, if it just causes you more pain? Why are you trying to force me to do what I’ve been doing since we’ve been here physically?”

Gabriel dropped to the floor and hid himself in his wings.  “I need to know, Lucifer.  You started this by telling me you knew about her… Finish it… please… just finish this…”

 

Lucifer sighed in resignation and turned away. “Fine. Crowley…has been fucking her. Made her into his own personal sex slave. There…you happy now?” His voice dripped with barely concealed tiredness.

  
  


Michael snuck away to the farthest spot away from Gabriel he could get to.  The trickster’s feathers puffed out slightly as his body clenched tight in a ball.  He began to shake violently and his feathers rustled against each other.  A golden light began to pulse out of his wings as they stretched out to their full length.  Within seconds, a wave of energy burst out of his body, sending Lucifer flying against the wall.  Michael was not regretting pushing himself into the wall in a fetal pose.  Gabriel shrieked in the most primal way that would have caused a human to liquify.  He ran up to Lucifer and lifted him by the collar like he weighed nothing.  “Get… Me… Out of here…”

 

Lucifer stared at him blankly. “You realize it took me several millennia to get out the first time? It’s not something I can fucking do with a snap of my fingers. This is a JAIL, Gabriel. Just…I’m done with the torture games today. I’m done…in general today.”

 

“Today… TODAY!?” Gabriel’s eyes were glowing golden amber and heated with rage, “So what?  I’m your bitch tomorrow again?!  Get your little minions down here and get me the fuck out, I’ll fucking smite him myself.”

 

“Gabriel, you don’t get it. I used my minions last time, remember? Still took millennia. What makes you think that it’ll be any easier? Trust me, I want to kill his ass myself. From what I’ve heard, he’s employing my woman as a fucking bartender. Or will be. I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter, cause I can not do FUCKING SHIT ABOUT IT.” Lucifer broke off, angered himself.

 

Gabriel turned around and ran his hand through his hair, gripping it tightly and pulling.  His teeth gritted as tears poured from his eyes.  He walked into his corner and slid to the floor, cradling himself and sobbing into his arms.

 

Lucifer watched, and sighed. He walked hesitantly over to Gabriel, not sure what to do. He regretted having given in. Sure, this is what he’d wanted before when he was angry at him, but… “Brother…I’m sorry.” He slid down the wall next to Gabriel, not attempting to touch him in consolation yet, hoping that Gabriel would just accept his presence there. He sat silently while Gabriel cried, suffering through each sob.

 

Gabriel fussed over the fact that his brother actually apologized and after a moment, he reached his hand out behind him, holding it open for Lucifer.

Lucifer gently took his younger brother’s hand, and pulled him closer, until Gabriel was almost entirely in his embrace, and he hugged him tightly. “I…am so…SO…damn…sorry.”

 

Gabriel turned his face into his brother’s chest and gripped onto his shirt, desperate for comfort.  He nuzzled his head into him, sobbing harder now and clinging onto Lucifer as if his life depended on it.  “Luci…”  He could barely speak, but after a moment he managed to reply, “Thank you, brother, I love you.”

 

Lucifer buried his face in Gabriel’s sweet smelling hair. “Guess….guess I really am a ‘big bag of dicks’ like you said before, little brother.” He shuddered slightly, trying to hide the fact that he was starting to cry. “I love you too. And I never stopped.”

 


	7. Alcohol and Feels Don’t Mix

Tevy winced as they walked down the hallway towards Crowley’s office, she stopped walking and leaned forward slightly, gripping her head.  “Fuck…”

 

Beth turned to her, confused. “Are you about to faint again?” She held her arms out protectively, trying to ready herself to catch Tevy if necessary.

 

“No…” she said, “No, I think I’m okay… my head just started throbbing for some reason… but I think I’ll be alright…”  She stood up straight and began walking slowly farther down the hall.

 

Beth nodded, still looking concerned. “I wonder if she’ll be alright….this weird vision thing with Gabriel isn’t normal….” She followed Tevy closely, while trying her best to figure it out. Thinking about Gabriel and Tevy made Beth feel slightly uncomfortable, since she was trying to hook up Crowley and Tevy now. “Am I wrong to be doing this? Then again, Gabriel’s gone. He can’t protect her anymore. He’s dead and buried. Crowley, on the other hand, is alive, rich, well connected, and can protect her better than anyone else in the world. If I can just get him to stop messing her up, then it’d be more of a healthy relationship.” She sighed softly. “Now, I’d try to do the same for me…but my man’s not dead. He’s just locked up. Sooner or later, he’s going to break out again, and probably come look for me. So…I guess I just will have to wait. I’ll always be faithful to him.”

 

“You’re awfully quiet all of a sudden.”  Tevy spoke softly, her head still aching a little.  She turned a corner to Crowley’s room and turned to Beth.  “You know maybe this isn’t such a good idea… He’s been in kind of a really strange mood tonight and it’s kind of creeping me out.”

 

Beth forced a grin. “Nah, I’m fine, let’s go!” Her smile softened. “Are you going to be ok?”

 

“Yeah, I’m more or less just concerned about what he’s going to do.”  Tevy knocked and waited a moment before Crowley cracked the door open.

He peeked through the crack of the door.  “What do you two want from me now?”

Tevy smiled and held up the bottle of Craig in one hand and her JB in the other.  “Wanna come down to the cigar lounge with us and get silly?”

Crowley eyed the liquor and then shut the door, “No.”

“Aw come on, Crowley!!”  Tevy opened the door and barged in.  The lights were all off, candle lit and Gilmore Girls on full volume on the TV.  “Really?  Okay, come on, COME ON!!” Tevy pushed Crowley over to the dresser, pulling out his suit before pushing him to the bathroom, starting to strip his clothes off before they even got in and shut the door.  “You’re being pathetic, Crow, get your ass out of this robe and come drink with us!”

 

Beth raised an eyebrow and leaned against the doorjamb, waiting. “Then again, Tevy might just do my ‘job’ for me. She really knows how to boss him…” She looked over at the tv, and her lips pursed slightly. “Seriously, though…Gilmore Girls? What -has- he been doing?” She walked over to his desk, noticing once again the bloody syringes, and flinched. Gritting her teeth, she gingerly picked up one, and sniffed it. Her eyes widened slightly. “Human blood?” She heard movement at the door, like it was about to open again, and she broke the needle off, sticking the now harmless syringe in her bag. She walked over to the tv and turned it off.

 

“Alright! Alright!!! Woman, quit pushing!!”  Crowley was fussing as they walked out of the bathroom, Tevy was obsessively grooming his hair and beard as she pushed him out of the bathroom.  

“Then stop moving like a fucking tortoise!!”  She poked his ear as she said tortoise and then began straightening his suit out for him.  

Crowley swatted her hands away, “Dammit, woman!”  She smiled as she flicked on the lights and stuck her tongue out at him.  “I could have just willed these clothes on you know.”

“But you didn’t!”  Tevy grinned, pushing him again, this time towards the door to the hall.  “Now, LETS GO!!!”

 

Beth laughed. “Yeah, Crowley, sometimes we like to be the ones dressing the boys.” She winked jauntily and fell in step with Tevy, helping her push him.

 

Tevy laughed and elbowed Beth lovingly.  Crowley sighed and ducked away from them, “I know where I’m going, ladies!!”  He was bright red, trying to hide it from them as he walked faster than the two of them, attempting to get farther away.  

The ended up in the lounge a few minutes later.  A cozy, large room with sofas and recliners all around coffee tables.  A bar sat at one end of the room and a small stage on the other with a grand piano on it.  Tevy laughed when she saw who was playing the piano.  Marcus was looking smug as ever tickling the ivories, blood still all over his suit and hands.  “Sometimes I seriously love it here.” Tevy laughed, “Pick a spot, Beth!”

 

Beth tapped her chin. She spotted a booth made from couches that faced each other, and grinned. “How about over there?” She laughed happily and practically skipped over there, dancing to the music on her way. She flopped down on one of the couches and sighed. “Oh, my, these couches are so COMFY!” She crossed her legs and stretched, bones popping.

“Taking that whole couch to yourself, I see?”  Tevy laughed, setting the bottles down on the table.  Crowley sat down on the couch parallel to Beth’s and put his feet on the table.  “I’ll be right back,” Tevy said, walking up to the bar counter and taking a peek at the choice of cigars.

 

Crowley squinted at Beth, pouring himself a glass of Craig, “What’s going on in your little head, Red?”

 

“I don’t know, what’s going on in yours, ‘Mr. Gilmore Girls’?” Beth grinned teasingly. “Why’d you run out on me before?” She jiggled her legs bouncily on the couch. “And for that matter, what’s with this?” She reached into her purse, drew out the syringe and tossed it over to him. “Why’re you shooting up on human blood?”

 

Crowley’s face flushed white, eyes widening as he caught the syringe.  He stared at it for a moment, not sure if it was even worth trying to make up a story.  He shook it off and pocketed the vial.  “It’s none of your bloody business why I’ve been… doing what I have been.”

 

Beth sniffed aloofly. “Fine. Keep acting weird. It’s only starting to freak Tevy out a bit. She almost didn’t come with me to get you, so that we could drink. Y’know, like friends? How long will it be before you freak her out enough that she stops coming to work?” She yawned and messed with her cuffs, itching one of her deep scars. “You didn’t answer my first question. Why’d you run out on me? It’s rude to do that to a lady.”

 

He sighed, frowning slightly, “My apologies, Red… these… entirely human emotions keep getting the best of me…  I can’t have my demons see me like that.”

 

Beth sighed. “Did I say something wrong? I’m only trying to make sure Tevy is happy, you know. She’s an angel, like me, so she’s my sister, basically. I get protective. Also, from what she’s told me, her life here on this bloody planet has been through the crapper. She deserves some happiness.” She grabbed an empty glass. “May I try some of your Craig? I’m a bit…new to alcohol.”

 

“Yeah, sure,” he pushes the bottle to her, “But careful, you’re not used to it, it may just punch you in the throat.”  He paused, looking down at his glass, “And no… it wasn’t your fault.. I just… I never intended to hurt her..”

 

Beth poured a glass and took a large gulp, then doubled over coughing cause it went down the wrong way. “FUCK!” She hacked, tears streaming, as she started laughing through her coughs. “Damn, I hate when you’re right!” She coughed a few more times, trying to clear her throat. “So you never answered me from our last talk….what are you going to do?”

 

Crowley grinned, chuckling at Beth and biting his tongue, “I warned you!”  He shook his head and sighed, “Why would I tell her I love her?” his voice quiet, so Tevy couldn’t hear, “That’s not really something you just throw at someone out of the blue.”

Rolling her eyes, Beth took a smaller, more hesitant sip. “Crowley, have you ever tried having a girlfriend rather than having just a sex slave? And trust me, those two are very different. I wasn’t saying you -had- to, not right now. ” She sighed. “Just…go easy on her. In other news, somethings…off, and I’m not sure what it is. She’s had at least two fainting fits, and she’s talking about hearing voices when she’s out. I’m worried about her.”

 

“Voices?” Crowley sat up slightly, but then relaxed, his eyes darting behind Beth.  Tevy walked up, cigar clamped between her teeth, puffing away, she put two more on the table, already cut and ready to be lit.  

“Fresh Cubans for you?”  She smiled, exhaling a huge puff of smoke.  Tevy sat down next to Crowley, picking up one of the cigars and sticking it in his mouth.  Before he could, Tevy struck a match and held it in front of him.  “A Lady never lights her own Cigar, Crow.”

 

Beth laughed, almost snorting booze up her nose. “Tevy, you’re a riot!” She eyed one of the cigars. “May I have one? I’ve never tried.” She winked at Crowley.

 

Crowley glared at Tevy as he puffed smoke from his nose, she smiled brightly and kissed his cheek before leaping onto the table and sitting in front of Beth, putting the unlit cigar in her own mouth and lighting it for her.  She exhaled and handed it to her friend, “They’re stronger than cigs, if you don’t like it don’t force yourself.”

Beth puffed it gently, taking to it easier than she had the alcohol. “Hm…not bad. Not bad at all.” She laid back on the couch. “This is nice, you know? Two friends chilling with me, good booze, good cigars….It’s a nice feeling.”

 

Tevy laughed, sitting back in the couch and looking at Crowley, “Oh my god, did you let her have at your Craig?”

Crowley bit his lip, grinning, looking into Tevy’s eyes with a devilish look.  “She asked for it.”

Tevy slapped Crowley’s leg and cackled, “Oh, no wonder she’s all red and floaty looking!  Shit, dude.”  She poured herself her Whiskey and held it in her hand as she inhaled deeply on her cigar and put her legs up over Crowley’s lap.

Beth looked up stubbornly. “Whaaat? A girl can’t live a little?” She puffed on the cigar, attempting to make smoke rings. “Damn, it looks so easy in the movies…”

 

Tevy smirked and looked at Crowley, knowing exactly what he was going to do.  He inhaled deeply and blew a perfect ring, seconds after, blowing a smaller one and sending it floating through the first ring.  The third he blew towards Tevy, who formed her own little O of smoke, blowing it through Crowley’s.  The two of them smiled at each other as Tevy giggled, sipping her drink.

 

Beth stared at them. “You know, you both,” She waved a slightly tipsy finger at them, “Are assholes. How’d you do that?” She giggled.

 

“Practice,” Tevy said, smiling brightly.

 

“King of Hell….” Crowley smirked, returning the cigar to his teeth.  His one hand held his craig, the other began to caress Tevy’s leg on his lap.  Tevy bit her lip without noticing after taking another swig, blushing a little.

 

Beth stuck her tongue out. “Oh shut up, y’all.” She was starting to get a bit of a southern accent, and she looked down at her glass. “Huh? I’m out already?” She held it out to Crowley. “If you don’t mind filling me up, Kingy?”

 

Crowley looked at Tevy who was keeping him belted to the couch with her legs, “No, you stay.”  She said, leaning forward and grabbing her whiskey, pouring some for Beth.  “No, more Craig for Beth.”

 

“Awwwwwwwww but Teeeev! It’s super good!” Beth complained, then she tasted the whiskey. She wrinkled her nose in surprise and confusion. “Why does everything smell like apples and lollis?”

 

Tevy smirked, pouring herself more, “Because this whiskey tastes like sour apple lollipops and candy.”

Beth gagged slightly. “It’s a bit of a taste shock compared to the other good juice.” She downed it, coughing. She handed back the glass. “A bit too sugary for me. What’s next?”

 

Tevy slid a bottle of water at Beth, “This.”  She took another swig of her own.  Her eyes popped open as she felt Crowley’s hand move over her own.  Looking over at him, she blushed at the sudden gentle touch from him.  He softly gripped her hand, waiting for approval.  Tevy wiggled her fingers until they were interlocked with his, biting her lip again and smiling.

 

Beth wrinkled her nose at the water. “Ok, so anyone wanna play drunk questions? Y’all ask me any questions, no holds barred, I answer truthfully, and I get to keep drinking. Who wants to go first?”

 

“I got one,” Tevy said, downing her drink, “Have you ever mated with another Angel?”  She winked and poured another glass.

 

“Yes, I have.” Beth wiggled her glass at Tevy. “C’mon, fill ‘er up.” She turned to Crowley. “Anything tickling your brain, King?”

 

Crowley smirked, “I know exactly which angel he was, I bet.  What was he like?”

Beth raised an eyebrow. “Mating with him? It was….it was like fire and ice, combined. Fear, and bravery in one. The brightest light, yet the darkest night. Primal and yet still romantic. So in a word, amazing.” She turned back to Tevy. “Drink, please. And your next question.”

 

Tevy shook her head, pouring more whiskey in Beth’s glass.  “How bout you ask one of us a question?”

 

Beth took the glass and took a sip. “Mmm. Alright. King. How’d you become a demon?”

 

Tevy bit her lip, knowing this story.  Crowley squinted at Beth, “Sold my soul for a few more inches below the belt….”  Tevy grinned brightly, her cheeks red from her buzz and possibly other reasons too.  “Oh quiet, you love it…”

 

Beth snickered. “Seriously? And here I thought you were such a high class gentleman…ah well.” She turned on Tevy. “Alright, sis. Your turn. What is your favorite thing about this world? Earth? The universe? Whatevers?”

 

Tevy thought for a moment, “I think… humans… I’ve really loved watching them grow and learn and create over the past few thousand years…”  She downed another glass, sitting up and then slowly inching back down but this time into Crowley’s lap, resting her head on his thigh.  “My turn, have you ever actually consumed alcohol before, Beth??”

 

Beth’s boozy smile faded. “Yes. But…not the traditional kind.” She paused, then took another gulp. “Next question.”

 

“Traditional kind?” Tevy pried.

 

Beth’s answer was mumbled. “I tried drinking mouthwash. I downed the entire bottle.”

“Oh honey,” Tevy smiled, “Ask me something!”  She took a swig straight from the bottle this time.  Crowley was petting her hair in his lap, still puffing away on the cigar, his bottle of craig next to him, no longer bothering with a glass.

 

“Nope, I believe it’s the King’s turn again.” Beth turned her now slightly sad eyes to Crowley. “Got any questions?”

 

Crowley smirked and glared at Beth, “For you?”

Beth shrugged. “For me or Tevy, if you wished.”

 

“What do you plan to do with yourself now that you’re grounded to Earth?” Crowley ask, bringing the bottle to his lips.

 

Beth hesitated. “Me?”

  
  


“Yes you, Red, Tevys been grounded here for forever already, I know her story.”

 

“Well…I’ve got a pretty spiffy job.” Beth saluted the King by raising her glass. “Maybe…I think I’d like to see this world. The supposed seven wonders of the ancient world, you know? I’d like to see those again, for one. Then the seven wonders of the modern world, because I haven’t seen them yet. I think that’d be pretty cool.” She turned to Tevy. “Alright, your turn. If you could do one thing that you haven’t already, what would it be?”

 

Tevy’s smile shrunk slightly, she looked down at the table, “My God given job…”  She wrapped her arms around Crowley’s leg.  “Not.. not fighting with the garrison… I mean… Answering people’s prayers… Being a Guardian angel… I never got to do that before I lost my grace.”  She sighed.  Crowley gripped her hand tightly and pulled her closer into him.

 

“I see. You probably would’ve done a better job than me. I never was the best at those. So….I started confining myself to the prayers of people who had animal related problems, like their pet was sick or something.” All trace of humor was gone from Beth’s face, and she took another sip. “Crowley, it’s your turn.” She paused for a second, and took a deep breath, and looked him dead in the eyes. “You’re the king of hell. What’s your deepest, darkest desire, now that you’ve won the throne?”

 

Crowley gave her that You’re asking that on purpose, look.  He sighed, fiddling with Tevy’s fingers.  “Not sure… Maybe… To find the new Queen of hell?”  

Tevy tried not to show any kind of reaction, trying to hide her little tipsy smile behind her arm, unable to hide how red she was getting.

 

Beth smirked slightly. “Sorry, Bucko. Since my man is Lucifer, that makes me Queen, I suppose. Anyways, who’s got the next question, anyways?”

 

Crowley opened his mouth to protest but Tevy flipped around in his lap and clamped a hand over his lips, staring into his eyes with a seductive undertone.  “Ah, ah, shhhh she has a point big boy!  Luci isn’t gone for good!”  Tevy knew she shouldnt have said something like that to Crowley, but her filter was beginning to vanish.  “Beth!”  Tevy said, peeking at her over her shoulder, “My question!!”  She paused, thinking, or possibly spacing out, “HAVE YOU EVER!?”  Waving her cigar in the air, “Made Lucifer cum from playing in his feathers?!”  She giggled like a little girl, her booze suddenly hitting her all together.

 

Beth rolled her eyes. “Um, DUH. Don’t all angels? Hell, you nearly got me yesterday. Oops!” She covered her mouth giggling. “FUCK! I didn’t mean to say that!”

 

Tevy laughed, rolling over on Crowley’s lap, dragging at her cigar a moment later.  Crowley looked at both of them like they were nuts, “Thats… Thats a thing?  You can get off on someone just touching your wings?”

 

Beth stared unbelieving at Crowley. “Seriously, Crowley? You’ve never touched her wings? Like, it’s the -ultimate- turn-on! An angel’s wings are their most sensitive parts of their body, like….” She searched for a human reference, and she landed on something that she’d read about, probably in a dirty mag. “Like having a vibrating dildo against a girl’s clit! Or…I don’t know, like almost an insta-orgasm button!” She shook her head giggling. “Man, you need to up your game more if you’re gonna please an angel gal.” She took another swig on her drink. “Alright…is it my turn now? I think it is…hmmmm….TEVY!” She looked at her, trying to think up a good question through the daze of the booze.

 

Tevy was rolling on Crowley’s lap and giggling, “Be nice, Beth!”  Crowley was blushing and glaring slightly at Beth.  She flipped over so her face was smashed into Crowley’s leg, her butt up in the air.  “Oh but shes so right!  And you know which angel has the most sensitive wings I’ve ever seen?  Mo-fuckin’ Archangel Gabriel!”  Crowley cocked an eyebrow and looked down at Tevy.  “Poor little bastard could hardly hold out five minutes if i was touching his wings.  There was a spot right in the middle of all his super soft downy feather, if I moaned into them just right, the sound vibrations were enough to make him burst!”  Tevy’s hair was falling in her face as she smooshed her cheeks with her hands, giggling happily.

 

Crowley looked incredibly confused.  “Gabriel?  You fucked Gabriel?  The wannabe trickster, Gabriel?”

 

“Bitch please,” Tevy laughed, “Fucked him?  I was mated to him!  Still would be too if he wasnt gone…”  Tevy sighed, slumping a little.  The giggling stopped and she hugged onto Crowley’s knee again.  “I miss him…. like… fuck…. I don’t think I’ll ever stop loving him so much…”

 

Crowley’s eyes darted to Beth, he froze, unsure of how he was supposed to react to the words spilling haphazardly from Tevy’s mouth.  Tevy sighed and then hiccuped.  “That’s why i like having you around, Crowley.  When you rip me apart in bed, it numbs the pain that lingers from when i lost the only being I’ll ever love.”  She shut her eyes and sighed, resting her head in Crowley’s lap.  He looked down at her, gritting his teeth, the pain growing inside him was becoming obvious on the outside too.

 

Beth’s eyes were frozen in shock, then anger grew in her eyes, and flames could almost be seen flickering in her pupils. “Tevy…sorry, sis, but you’re so stupid. SERIOUSLY. How…HOW can…Nope. I can’t do this.” She got up abruptly and stalked away, grabbing the Jack Daniel’s bottle as she went, and swiped another cigar. “Crowley, you’re welcome to join if you need to.” She said as she walked out the door.

 

Crowley looked down at Tevy and flipped her over, she was passed out in his lap.  He sighed, tears threatening to escape his eyes, he snapped his fingers and popped back to his office.  He set Tevy on his sofa and covered her with a throw blanket before walking away.  Looking back for only a moment and sighing before teleporting back home.

 

 


	8. Discovery and Heartbreak

Gabriel was spaced out in his mind, cuddled up to his older brother.  His wings fell limp to the floor after a while, his rage dissipated within him, laying dormant for now.

Lucifer had stopped shuddering, and was gently running his fingers through Gabriel’s hair, gently humming a lullaby that he’s used to sing back when they were kids. “Lullaby…Lullaby…close your sleepy eyes….Lullaby…Lullaby…go to sleep, my child…all is well, I can tell, angels hov’ring near, Jesus Christ, Immanuel, he is coming neeeeeeear….” he sang the words barely above his breath, his tone melodic.

 

Michael sat at the other end of the cage, poking the passed the fuck out being that was or maybe still Adam.  “How is he?”  he asked Lucifer.

 

Lucifer shrugged. “He’s not throwing me against the wall with his light powers, so I assume that’s an improvement. And honestly…I’m kinda done fighting in general. Too many millennia has been spent that way. I’m still gonna have my fun with humanity…but maybe toned down a bit. And honestly…I’d probably would’ve reacted the same way or worse if someone told me that someone was fucking my woman. I’m not sure the cage would survive it.” He brooded silently, and sighed. “I miss Beth.”

 

Adam chimed in, “Someone is fucking your woman…”

 

Lucifer shot Adam a look that could freeze oceans. “You want your turn on the torture rack already, you pig human?”

 

“Well, hey, you said you weren’t sure the cage would survive it.” Adam sighed, “It was worth a shot.”  Michael grabbed Adam by the hair and slammed his head into the floor, knocking him out again.  

 

Lucifer raised an eyebrow. “And here I thought you were all for ‘not’ being violent to the human. Or do you just not care anymore?”

 

“I was ‘violent’ with you, wasn’t I?” Michael hissed, bitterly.  “I’m still distraught with you…”

 

Lucifer rolled his eyes. “Oh, take a chill pill already, Michael. It’s not like we’re getting out of here anytime soon. Be mad at me all you want, it’s not like I fucking care anymore.”

 

“But…” Gabriel whispered weakly, “We have to… soon…”

 

Lucifer looked down at his younger brother gently. “If you’ve got a viable plan of how to bust out, I’m all ears. I wouldn’t mind smelling fresh air again.”

 

Gabriel whimpered and nuzzled into Lucifer’s chest, “I wouldn’t mind tasting candy again…”

 

Lucifer manifested a snickers bar. “Here. It’s probably not as good as the real deal out there, but it’s the best I can do.” He opened the bar and broke the tip off, offering it to Gabriel.

 

Gabriel bit the chocolate out of his hand, almost taking off his fingers.  He moaned softly as he savored the taste.  “Its more like dollar store knock off snickers but its heavenly right now, Luci…”

 

He withdrew his hand fast. “Yikes, Gabe, I need my fingers! Watch where you’re using those chompers of yours!” He chuckled slightly. “Glad you like it, I guess.” He poked the rest of the candybar into Gabriel’s mouth, giggling at the image.

 

Gabe’s cheeks puffed up as he attempted to chew the entire bar of candy, his eyes squinty yet glowing with sugary joy at the same time.  He sighed when he swallowed.  “I miss her… I’ve been trying to contact her…somehow… telepathically.  I don’t really know if it worked but i could almost feel her essence reacting to me… i don’t know, I’m probably just going mad.”

 

Lucifer raised an eyebrow. “No, you probably did reach her. How do you think I influenced the world all those millennia? I influenced people’s minds telepathically. You just need more practice, brother. It takes the millennia to perfect it.”

  
  


Gabriel looked up at Lucifer with his big, golden, doe eyes, “Do you think she can actually hear me?  What about Beth?  Have you tried to get to her?”

Lucifer stared blankly at the floor. “Yes she can probably hear you…and no. I haven’t tried to get to Beth.” He resumed petting Gabriel’s hair absent-mindedly.

 

“Why?  Don’t you want to see her again?”

 

Lucifer sighed. “I do. But there isn’t any way in heaven or hell that I deserve her. I’ve already hurt her enough being locked away the first time. When I did get out the last time, I looked for her, but the angels had her stashed somewhere, and I couldn’t find her before I got locked away. AGAIN. So what’s the point? I’d just hurt the both of us more.”

 

“Because maybe if you got out again you could make it better… and maybe if you got a hold of her, she can find Tevy…”  Gabriel gripped onto Lucifer’s jacket.

 

Lucifer shrugged. “From what I could tell, I think they’ve already found each other. They’re working together in Crowley’s little hell club.”

 

Gabriel grabbed Lucifer by the collar and shook him, “Lucifer please!  If you can get to her, maybe they can spring us from this cage!”

Lucifer sighed. “Fine, fine. I’ll do it on one condition, Gabe.”

 

“Anything, Lucifer, please.”

 

Lucifer grinned slightly. “Stop grabbing me by the collar and shaking me.”

 

“Oh…” Gabe let go of his brother, “That’s it?”

 

“Well, I could ask you for eternal servitude, but I guess that would be a bit of a slide back to my normal stuff, wouldn’t it?” Lucifer winked at him. “Nah, just…here.” He manifested some clothes, and handed them to Gabriel. “I love you bro, but the whole naked thing is starting to wear old.” The clothes were simple, a green jacket, a normal t-shirt with no markings, and jeans.

 

Gabriel smiled and nuzzled into his old jacket, “Ah, yes!  Thank you!”  Gabriel’s eye popped open as he inhaled deeply.  “Fuck…”

 

Lucifer tilted his head, confused. “What?”

 

Gabriel rubbed his face, “It smells exactly like her…”

 

Lucifer sighed. “I’m afraid I have not the pleasure of understanding you, Mrs. Bennett. Explain, Gabriel.”

 

“The jacket…”  Gabriel pulled the collar of his jacket up over his face, “It smells like sweet raspberry perfume… Exactly the way she did… Where did this come from?”

 

Lucifer thought for a minute. “From Earth, probably….I’m not sure where stuff comes from when I summon it all the time. I just snap my fingers, and I have it. You needed clothes, so I summoned some of your old clothes. That’s the stuff that appeared.” He shrugged. “Why?”

 

“Because i think you just took this from Tevy…”  He shut his eyes and inhaled again.  “She kept it…”

 

Lucifer raised his hand. “If you want, I can send it back so she doesn’t notice that it’s missing…”

 

“NO!”  He felt selfish keeping it, but he desperately needed something to keep him sane down there.  “No, I’ll keep it… just… just find a way to contact Beth…”

 

Lucifer nodded and lowered his hand. “Just…get dressed, you goofy moron.” He closed his eyes, and concentrated hard for a few seconds, falling silent as he concentrated.

* * *

 

Beth fumed outside the club. “I can’t believe she fucking said that. Note to self, don’t trust Tevy around ANY fucking alcohol. …..Poor Crowley. He looked so heartbroken.” She took a swig of her Jack Daniels bottle, wiping her mouth after she swallowed the fiery liquid.

 

Crowley teleported behind Beth outside the club.  “Bloody fucking hell, Red…”

 

Beth looked blankly at him. “Oh. Hi.” She offered the bottle to him.

 

Crowley accepted and took a long swig, “Now what would you like me to do?  How am I supposed to treat her like an angel when she goes saying shit like that?”

 

Beth groaned. “Honestly, I had no idea she was going to say that. I guess I’m starting to realize more sometimes why Zach kicked her out. She’s fucking oblivious, and she can be a stubborn ass. Do what you want. As far as I’m concerned, I just witnessed a train wreck, flames and all.” She chuckled sarcastically. “Heh. Luci would be proud of those flames, too.”

 

Crowley scoffed, “Luci?  Is that your pet name for Satan?”

Beth chuckled. “He’s my man, and I’m his lady, his bitch, whatever he wants to call me. So, I can nickname him anything I want. What is he gonna do? Throw me in hellfire? No.” She shrugged, and took another swig from her bottle once she took it back from Crowley. She sighed. “It is what it is, he is where he is, and neither of us can really do shit  about it.”

 

Crowley smirked, “Ya’ know a few months ago I would have never wanted something like that… but now… I suppose it would be nice… minus the being locked in a pit part…”

 

Beth cocked her head to the side. “Sorry…what?” The booze was starting to interfere slightly with her comprehensive side, and she hadn’t understood. Suddenly she began to sway. “Whoa….what the…”

 

Crowley rushed to her, holding her steady, “Whoa there, you okay, Red??”

 

Beth’s eyes rolled back into her head, and she passed out. She immediately fell into a dream, floating, and she saw a darkness in front of her.

“Long time, no spooning, my dear.”

Beth’s eyes widened. “Lucifer? How…Luci?” Her eyes started tearing up. “Where…I thought you’d been dragged back to the pit by Michael?! How can I hear you?”

“Easy, calm down, Nuthatch. It’s fine. I’m still in the pit. Michael’s here, along with the Winchester’s brother, Adam. I’m talking with you telepathically. Little trick I picked up over years and years of boredom. Only recently perfected it.” He manifested in front of her, and reached his arm out to her.

She reached out her arm to his, and almost whimpered in physical pain when her hand passed through his like he was a ghost. “I miss you. So much.”

A pained smile tugged Lucifer’s lips. “I miss you too, my dear. I’m here to pass a message to you. But first,” he frowned slightly. “What exactly are you doing, working as a bartender at that idiot Crowley’s slut barn?”

“Red?” Crowley shook her slightly, “Beth?… Fuck..”  Crowley picked up Beth and cradled her in his arms, snapping his fingers and zapping them to his home.  He took her up to his bedroom and laid her on the bed.  He sat next to her and watched over her, not sure if he should wake her up or not.

 

Beth’s mouth dropped slightly. “How did you know about that? And I’m only bartending for money so that I can earn rent. Strangely enough, its a nicer place than most human places…”

Lucifer searched her eyes. “He hasn’t tried to take advantage of you at anytime? Hasn’t tried to fuck you?”

Her eyes blazed. “Never. I would never let another man touch me. How -dare- you think I would.”

Lucifer sighed slightly in relief. “Ok. I believe you. Does he know you’re mine?”

Beth nodded, grinning. She burst into giggles. “Man, you should’ve seen his face when I ‘casually’ mentioned you were my man. He turned white as a sheet!”

Lucifer grinned grimly. “Good, he should be scared. Though, at this point, he shouldn’t be as scared of me, as he should be of Gabriel.”

Beth froze. “Wait….what? Who?!”

 

Crowley gritted his teeth, “Okay, its been too long.”  He leaned over her and snapped his fingers, zapping her awake.

 

Beth’s eyes opened, but she didn’t react much. She merely turned her head toward Crowley with glowing eyes. “I”m not done with her yet.” She waved one hand, and Crowley was sent flying.

 

Crowley gripped the wall behind him with an incredibly stunned look on his face.  “The bloody hell was that!?”

 

Beth sat up, her eyes glowing harder. “Crowley, don’t ever think of touching Beth again. She’s mine, and I will defend her even from the pit. This is your only warning. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to continue my conversation with her, and if you interrupt again…there will be severe consequences.” Beth slumped back down on the bed, her eyes shut, smoking slightly.

 

Crowley pressed himself against the wall and froze, shaking in fear.  He dared not move from that spot until she woke up.

 

Lucifer dusted off his hands decisively. “Sorry about that, dear. Can’t have him interrupting our conversation. Demons just don’t seem to have manners nowadays.”

Beth rubbed her head, nursing a slight headache from him having taken over. “Yeah, ow. Anyways? You were saying? Something about Gabriel? I thought you killed him before you were put back in the pit.”

Lucifer nodded. “I thought the same, until Father threw him into the pit with me and Michael. Apparently he’d pulled another trick, and I didn’t kill him. He’s stuck in the pit with me. He wants to send Tevy a message, let her know that he’s alive.”

Beth immediately got a deer in the headlights look. “Ah.”

Lucifer looked at her curiously. “What’s that look for?”

Beth started blushing furiously. “I had no idea he was still alive….oh boy….this’ll be…um….really awkward…”

Lucifer crossed his arms. “Nuthatch…what did you do?”

Beth fiddled with her ring. “I might have been trying to hook Crowley up with Tevy….like romantically.”

“Gabe already knows that Crowley made her into a sex slave. That’s why he should be afrai-wait….romantically? Explain.”

“Um…well I got kinda pissed when I kept seeing her come out of her sessions with Crowley marked up….”

“Marked up? How badly?”

“She looked like she’d been in a bar fight. Anyways, I was trying to convince him to go easier on her, and it worked. He’s been acting…differently, more gentle than usual. The more difficult part has been convincing Tevy that he loves her.”

Lucifer facepalmed. “Wow, Beth. Just…wow. Ok…just…let her know that he’s alive, and we’re working together on a gameplan to try and crack the cage again.”

“Um, wouldn’t Dad get super mad at you if you tried to escape again?” Beth look at him, wishing that she could touch his face.

Lucifer grinned halfheartedly. “Probably. But I’ll have no rest in the cage unless I try to help Gabriel. He’s ….very one track minded.” He frowned. “I should go. I’ll be in touch again as soon as I can.”

Beth’s eyes began to fill with tears. “Lucifer…I love you.”

Lucifer smiled. “Love you most.”

* * *

 

Beth stirred on the bed, groaning slightly. “Wha…where am I?” She sat up, massaging her head, trying to rub the hangover out of her forehead. She looked up, and saw Crowley pressed against the wall, an expression of fear on his face. “Crowley? Um…what are you doing?”

 

Crowley stared at Beth blankly, still pressed against the wall.  “Is… Is he gone?”

 

Beth raised a petulant eyebrow. “You mean you’re the reason my hangover is here earlier cause you tried to wake me up? Yes, Lucifer is gone. Just sweet, lovable, little old me.” She grinned teasingly at him, though in his fright it was almost menacing.

 

“What… the fuck happened?”  Crowley slowly started walking towards her, still shaking slightly.  

 

Beth yawned and stretched. “Oh you know, just an express message from the pit. Don’t suppose you have any aspirin in here? My head’s killing me.”

 

Crowley snapped his fingers, attempting to zap her headache away, “I’ll do you one better, now what do you mean a message?  From the pit??”

 

Beth narrowed her eyes as she grinned. “Now, Crowley, you wouldn’t tell me your and Tevy’s pillowtalk. So I’m not going to tell you what Lucifer said, because it’s none of your business. Oh…well…except the ‘you should be scared’ bit.”

“What?!” Crowley looked entirely panicked, “I should be scared?  What did he say about me?”  

 

Beth squinted as she tried to remember exactly. “Well….he said someone close to Tevy isn’t happy with you….doesn’t like how you’re treating her. He’s a bit tied up at the moment, but he’s going to deal with you…in more or less words.” She thought harder for a second. “Oh, and I think he mentioned something about he’s gonna try and break out of the pit again.”

Crowley’s brow began to sweat slightly, frozen staring into her eyes, “I think… I’m going to be sick…”  He got up and rubbed his face, starting to pace.  “So you’re telling me, i have just been threatened by Satan himself, and this mystery person is down there with him ready to spring out and smite me down where I stand because of something I did in private with a consenting, very willing, angel, who, i don’t know if i have made clear yet, wanted every second of it?”

 

Beth winced, her headache starting to come back again. “Damn it….Um…I believe he said Gabriel was in the pit with him.”

 

Crowley turned white, “Are you joking?  Well, this is just my fucking night!”  He turned again, pacing, rubbing his face again.  “And i suppose you are going to tell her about it arent you?”

 

Beth glared at him. “I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t believe me. Afterall, she didn’t believe me when I told her that you loved her. It would just sound like a beautiful lie to her. No…I’m not telling her.”

 

Crowley looked confused and pained, “You told… Wait, why wouldn’t you tell her this?”

 

Beth got a guilty look on her face. “Ok, for starters, I wasn’t sure at the time that you -were- in love with her, and I merely told her my suspicions; I hadn’t confronted you about it yet. And secondly? How would you feel in her position? How would she explain herself to Gabriel? I’m…honestly, Crowley, I’m not sure how to go about this at all.”

 

Crowley pondered in his head for a moment, it pained him to say it but he had to, “The one.. one being shes ever loved is alive… She has every right to know this… and how can someone be expected to stay faithful to someone they were told was dead for years?  She has needs… Shes mostly human now.  What happens if she finds out that you know and never told you?”

 

Beth nodded reluctantly. “Will…you stay with me when I tell her? You’re the only witness I have that Lucifer contacted me. Even then…I’m not sure she’ll believe us. She’ll just think Lucifer is tricking her from the Pit. And at the very least….She deserves a good sleep tonight. We’ll plan on telling her in the morning…agreed?”

 

Crowley nodded, “You can stay here if you like… unless you want to go check on her with me?”

 

“I’ll go with you.”

 

Crowley zapped them to his office.  Tevy was laying on the floor next to the couch Crowley had put her on, her arms held above her head, mouth agape and snoring loudly.  Crowley smiled, “Shes adorable even like this.”  He whispered to Beth, biting his lip slightly, his heart breaking to look at her even though just the sight of her made him smile.

 

Beth looked at him sympathetically. “I’m sorry, Crowley.” She gently rested her hand on his arm, seeking to give him some type of comfort.

 

“I’ll be fine..”  Crowley sighed, “As long she’s happy, I don’t care if she casts me aside.”  He went over to his desk and sat.  “I’ll watch her, you can go or the couch is welcome to you as well.”  Crowley gestured towards a couch in front of a fireplace and a fire lit up, welcoming Beth so come relax.   

Beth walked over to the couch and sat down. “Tell me something, Crowley?” She made herself as comfortable on the couch as she could and sighed. “Are you scared of me now because of Lucifer? Are you not going to talk with me honestly because of him?” Her words started to turn to mumbling as the warmth of the fireplace caressed her body and started to pull her mind to sleep.

 

“No,” He sighed, “But after all this I’m not so sure it would be safe for me to hang around the both of you..”

 

Beth nodded slowly. “I suppose….unfortunately.” She plumped one of the pillows and sighed disappointedly. “Man, I only had one night in my job…I almost feel guilty for this, but I kinda wish Gabe really -was- dead. It’d make my life and yours a ton easier. Probably Luci’s too; he’s only breaking out cause Gabe’s apparently bitching his ear off about busting out.”

 

“I really hope that’s the alcohol talking and not how you really feel, Red.”  Crowley leaned against the wall next to the fire place.  “Kind of unfair of you to wish someone was dead who got a second chance, especially since he’s the one thing Tevy wants in this world.  Besides, he might just be your one ticket to seeing your bosnick again.”

 

Beth turned and gave him a strange look. “You know…I used to think all demons were selfish bastards, and then you go and turn me on my head, being completely selfless…Don’t you want something for -your- happiness? It almost kills me to hear you saying this stuff.” She sighed. “Then again, I’ve always been a bleeding heart for the ‘bad boys’, I guess. How else do you explain my attraction to Luci? You know, other than his charming good looks and winning personality and the fact that he’s supposed to be every angel’s mortal enemy.”

 

“Well you can thank your ‘Luci’s’ original Vessel, Moosey Winchester, for my bloody behavior.  If it wasn’t for him you would have never heard selfless words out of my mouth.”

 

Beth propped herself up on one elbow, her hair falling across her chest. “What do you mean? What the hell did Moose do to you?”

 

“He tried to ‘cure’ me… it was the last trial to seal hell, inject me with his purified blood over and over until I gained emotion and filled with guilt.  But the little Winchester stopped him before he could finish it.  So now i’m stuck in this rollercoaster, addicted to the shit and unable to harness these fucking feelings.”

 

Beth sucked in a breath. “Seal hell?….fuck….” She hesitantly reached a hand towards Crowley. “You know…I still have my grace. I can heal, to some degree, most things. If you’d like….I could try to take it away. Turn you back to normal.” She rolled so she could face him better. “That is…if you wanted.”

 

“No,” Crowley shook his head, “If you tell a single soul, mortal or not, that want this, I’ll smite you down.  But no, i don’t need to be ‘healed’.  Get some sleep.  It’s late.”  He walked away, placing himself back at his desk and sighing.

 

Exhaustion hit Beth in a wave, and she yawned loudly. “Whatever you say, hun. I won’t tell a soul. Night, sweetie. See ya *yawn* in the morning.” Before long she was snoring gently, a piece of hair laying over her mouth and fluttering when she exhaled.


	9. To Hell and Back

Crowley was kneeling next to Beth, nudging her lightly, “Red… Beth… Wake up…”

 

Beth groaned and rubbed her face. “Argh….morning, handsome.” She swung her legs onto the floor and sat up, her eyes still droopy with sleep sand. “What’s up?”

 

Crowley’s expression was concerned and a little panicked, “Shes gone.  I left for five minutes and she vanished…”

 

Beth started upright. “What!?” She was instantly awake. “Let’s start looking through the halls. She can’t teleport, so she can’t have gone far.” She stood, and rushed for the door.

Tevy was standing on the other side of the door, 3 pizza’s in her hands as well as a cherry pie and a case of coke.  “What up, G?”  She said through a stuffed mouth of pizza.  “Breakfast?”  She set the food down on Crowley’s desk and opened a coke for herself, hopping up onto the desk and sitting next to the pizza that she continued picking at and shoving into her mouth.

 

Beth’s mouth dropped open, and then she closed it fast, recovering at the same speed. “Really, Tevy? Pizza for breakfast? You’re like an eternal college kid!” She walked over to where the pizzas had been placed, checking to see which types there were. “Got any with banana peppers on them?”

 

Tevy, licking her fingers, answered, “Naw, if you had gotten your bitch ass outa bed when i tried to wake you up you coulda come with me.  I got cheese, extra cheese and pepperoni.  This shit is amazing, but you shoulda tasted it when they invented it over in Naples.”  She moaned and wiggled her shoulders sipping her coke as she reminesed about the olden days when she visited other places on Earth besides the USA.

 

Beth grinned weakly. “Yeah…guess the alcohol had the drop on me from last night. You passed the fuck out. And I did taste it in Naples. One of the few times I came to Earth before the Fall.” Her eyes got misty slightly as she remembered that trip. She shook herself. “Tevy….I…we, that is…Crowley and I…have something we need to sit down and talk to you about.”

 

“Alright,”  She was all smiles and glowing, genuinely enjoying stuffing her face with pizza and coke, “I’m sitting.  Shoot.  What’s up, Captain?”

 

Beth looked at Crowley, slightly nervous. “Um…you know how you’ve been fainting…and hearing voices a lot lately?”

 

“Yeah, what about it,” She picked a pepperoni off the pizza and stuck it in her mouth, her feet bouncing with joy.

 

“Well…last night after you passed out from the alcohol, I was talking with Crowley…and then I had an episode like yours. I passed out, started hearing a voice.”

 

“Yeah,” Tevy was listening, but it seemed like Pizza Land was more important to her at the moment.  “Go on.”

 

Beth started to get a little irritated. “It was Lucifer. Apparently he’s going to try and break out of the cage again cause a certain someone won’t stop bitching his ear off about it. He freaked Crowley the fuck out when Crow’s tried waking me up and interrupted our conversation.”

 

“Yeah, I’m sure Lue was pissed about that, can’t imagine he’s very fond of Crowley.”  Still enthralled in her pizza, “Who was bitching?  Was it that sorry little excuse for a vessel, the Winchester’s half brother?”

 

“Gabriel.”

 

Tevy choked slightly and forced herself to swallow everything in her mouth.  Her face flushed completely pale and she stared at Beth, wide eyed and in shock.  “w-what?  Don’t f-fuck with me, Beth…thats not fuckin funny…”

 

Beth looked at her seriously. “I’m not fucking with you, Tevy. Apparently Gabe is ‘raising hell’ in the cage, trying to get out. Why would I lie to you about Gabe?”

 

Tevy froze, still staring.  “He’s…. alive?”

 

Beth sighed. “Apparently so. Lucifer told me he was bringing a message to you from Gabe. He wanted you to know he was alive.”

 

Tevy stood up, bringing her hand to her mouth, her eyes darting back and forth between various spots on the carpet.  “I… how… Fuck, I’m gunna be sick…”  She ran to the bathroom and slammed the door.

Crowley sighed, listening closely, “Shes not going to be sick.”  There was no sound of retching or gagging at all from the bathroom.  He walked to the door.  “Angel…”  

“I’m fine…” Tevy said, her breathing was fast and her voice was shaking.  

“I don’t want you in there having a panic attack alone…”  He said, trying to open the door.

“Is that what this is?”  She cracked the door open a little, her entire body was shaking.

 

Beth walked over to the door. “Tev, honey, I know it’s startling. It surprised the fuck out of me too. But Luci wouldn’t lie to me. Besides, it would explain why you’ve been having your fainting episodes.”

 

“What?”  She grabbed Crowley’s hand that he had reached out to her, still hiding behind the bathroom door, shaking, “How does that explain the episodes?”

 

Beth rolled her eyes. “You really think that telepathy is limited only to Lucifer? Dear, it’s an archangel thing.”

 

Tevy’s big, doe eyes were started to water, her already smudged makeup running down her face.  She tried to back into the bathroom again, hyperventilating, but Crowley tightened his grip on her hand and pulled her out, into his arms, she clung to him, still looking at Beth.  She was freaking out too hard to be able to speak.  Crowley held the back of her head to his chest with his free hand.  “Tevy…” he spoke softly before breathing deeply so she could hear.  After a few moments Tevy’s breathing began to slow, mimicking Crowley’s subconsciously.  

Beth sighed and walked back over to the desk. “Fucking A, Lucifer…why did I have to be the messenger.” She mumbled under her breath, grabbing a bottle of Craig and drinking off the bottle. She took long gulps, then gasped slightly for breath when she stopped, wiping her mouth. “Don’t even know how the hell y’all gonna get out of the cage…”

 

“Beth!” Crowley looked at her in shock and disappointment, “Do you really think I or Tevy, for that matter, needs you to be drunk right now?”  He snapped his fingers, willing the alcohol out of her blood stream and rendering it harmless.  “That Craig isn’t cheap either…”

 

Beth groaned. “Then why the fuck did you take it away?” She flopped in his recliner. “What the fuck am I supposed to do? I would’ve thought she would be happy. You know? The person she said was the only person she ever loved is alive and well. Hooray!” Her voice dripped sarcasm. “No one even notices that the only fact that Lucifer is bustin out of hell is so that he can get Gabe out of the cage, NOT so he can try and see me. He didn’t even fucking see me the last time he was out! If Gabe wasn’t in there, it would’ve been even MORE time before I saw him again. So basically, DOES HE EVEN FUCKING CARE ABOUT MY PAIN? DOES ANYONE? He only came to me to pass on a FUCKING MESSAGE. First time I find out about his fucking telepathy, and it’s like ‘Oh hi, Beth, Gabe’s alive!’ No ‘hi, how are you doing, Beth’?” She was nearly yelling now. She put the bottle down on the desk with a clunk. “I’m done with this fucking business. Peace out.” She got up and walked out the door.

 

Tevy stepped away from Crowley as he turned, lifting his hand and gesturing a motion the lifted Beth into the air, pulling her back in the room.  He pinned her against the wall with his mind and crossed his arms.  “Need i remind you that you’re screaming at the King of hell?”

 

Tevy walked up to her, a look of complete disgust on her face.  “You think i’m not happy to hear this?”  She scoffed, “Yeah i am, but how did you think i would respond?  I thought he was dead, Beth…”  Crowley held Beth against the wall, unwilling to put her down.

 

Beth scowled at Crowley. “Need I remind you that you’re sitting on a stolen throne,  pinning the true King’s girlfriend to a fucking wall?” She spat. She turned to Tevy. “I thought you’d cry from happiness or something. How should I know?” She growled slightly. “Let me go, Crowley. NOW.”

 

Tevy looked up at Beth, hurt and confused.  “No, i think you need to see something…”  Crowley hissed, snapping his fingers and zapping them someplace dark.   It appeared to be a cave, stone ceilings overhead, wet, stone floors underfoot.  “If you are so pissed at your bosnick, maybe you should tell him so yourself…”

Crowley snapped again and a giant stone wall appeared, a huge door with 600 locks in it sat in the center.  To either side were small gaps like windows in the walls.  Flames could be seen within from the outside.

 

Beth looked at Crowley, shocked and still pissed. “You’ve gotta be shitting me right now, Crowley. What the -fuck- are you doing?”

 

Crowley, having been completely fed up with Beth’s attitude, walked up to the slat in the wall.  He turned and whistled.  Seconds later, 5 giant Hellhounds walked up to him from behind the girls.  Each of them standing as tall as his chest.  He pet them happily, turning to look into the window.

“You shouldn’t have yelled at him,” Tevy whispered, terrified.

 

Beth’s pissyness had melted away, replaced with a tinge of fear. “Crowley…no. Gabriel will rip you apart….You’re not seriously going to bust the cage open?”

 

A white glow shined through as someone approached, seconds later, they heard a very angry sounding curse in Enochian as an arm shot out attempting to grab Crowley’s neck.  He dodged just in time and one of his hounds bit down on the arm, holding the Angel in place.  

“Michael.” Crowley smirked, “So nice to see you too.”

“What are you doing here, you filthy, disgusting miscreant?”  Michael’s voice was bitter, his eyes glowed white as he glared at Crowley.

“I need the other two, where are they?”

“Me?”  Adam peeked over behind Michael who quickly elbowed the boy in the face, knocking him out again.  

“They are at the other end of the labyrinth.. why?”  Michael sighed.

“We need to have a word with them, specifically the one who hates me the most.”

Michael rolled his eyes, “Fine, i can get them… but call off your damned cur first.”

Crowley snapped and his dog released Michael’s arm, who nodded and walked off into the hellfire.

Tevy was shaking violently, she sat down on the cold floor and the hellhounds all gathered around her, nuzzling and cuddling up to her.  

Beth was still standing in shock. “What is this, a fucking prison visit? What the hell is Crowley doing? Why….Fuck….why does my heart hurt so much? Lucifer….oh my god…I’m going to actually be able to see him in person…” She collapsed suddenly to the floor, tears pooling in her eyes.

 

Crowley, hands behind him, walked past the girls, “Don’t say i never did anything for you.”  He vanished into the darkness, leaving his hounds with them.  Tevy stood up, shaking herself off.  She was still trembling, but curiosity got the better of her.  She walked up to the wall and up to the little window on the other side of the door.  There was a big room with a hallway entrance in the back, hellfire everywhere.  “B-Beth… you alright?”  She turned her head to look at her friend.

 

Beth curled in a ball. “I…I can’t….Too sudden…Lucifer…Luci….my…-my- Luci…” She stuttered incoherently, the tears falling down her face, pent up from millennia of holding her feelings down. After a few minutes, she quieted down, her only movements being her shoulders rising up and down as she breathed. “I’ve missed him so much…”

Tevy’s heart ached for her.  She had been without Gabriel for maybe four years but Beth hadn’t seen Lucifer in much longer than that, lifetimes.  It was moments later that she heard rapid footsteps coming from the hallway.  Her heart stopped beating as she saw the 3 archangels appear from within the hellfire.  Lucifer going up to the window on the other side and Gabriel running directly to Tevy.  The slat in the wall was only big enough for her to fit her arms through, reaching for him desperately.  Gabriel slid his arms through to her, his palm going right to her cheek, “Tevy…” His voice cracked, tears already streaming from his eyes.

Tevy smiled widely, hearing him say her name for real and not in her imagination, she instantly began to sob, digging her fingers into his arm.  “G-Gabriel…”

 

Beth staggered to her feet, eyes wide. “L-Lucifer….” She walked slowly over to the window. She searched his face, startled slightly when he smiled, tears starting to run down his face. She chuckled brokenly for a second. “Long time no spooning..”

Lucifer laughed too. “Hiya, Nuthatch.” He reached his arm through the slat, reaching out to her.

More tears began to fall down Beth’s face as she hiccuped slightly. She gently reached out, and touched his palm with her fingers, lighter than a feather. “Oh Lucifer…” She left her hand in his, examining his face, attempting to memorize every single familiar detail. “I’ve missed you so much.”

Lucifer grinned through his tears, shuddering slightly. “Not as much as I’ve missed you. I’d tear the world apart for you if you asked…my dearest.”                                            

Gabriel rubbed Tevy’s cheek with his thumb, his eyes glowing brightly and his wings fluttering with joy.  “H-Hey, Sugar…” He whispered, his head pressed to the stone wall, gazing into her eyes.

“Gabriel… I thought…” Tevy choked, her body pressed to the wall, desperate to be as close as she could.

“Yeah… me too,”  Gabriel slid his other hand in as far he could as she did, their fingertips brushed together, barely able to reach each other.  “But here I am.”  

“Oh, Gabriel… I’m so sorry…”

Gabe pushed her hair back behind her ear, exposing the scars left by Crowley.  “Crowley did this to you?”  He traced the huge gash that traveled down her arm with his fingertip.

Tevy sobbed harder, “Gabriel I thought you were gone forever!  He makes me numb, I couldn’t live with the pain.”  Gabe held her cheek again, shushing her.

“Hush, Tevy, you’re here… I don’t care about anything else right now, just look at me…” Gabriel waited for her to look into his eyes, “I love you.”

“I love you, still, that never changed, Gabriel, I could never love Crowley, or anyone else besides you.”  She reached up and gripped the back of Gabriel’s hair as he did to her.  They both struggled against the stone walls, their arms getting cuts and scrapes all over them from rubbing on the side of the window.

 

Beth giggled, just so overwhelmingly happy to be able to see her Lucifer’s face. “Heh…young love, right?” She rolled her eyes.

Lucifer grinned. “Yeah, tell me about it. He wouldn’t stop bugging me.” He frowned slightly. “So why -are- you here? Why did Crowley bring you down here?”

 

“I can’t believe you’re here…” Gabriel said, “How did you get here?  Michael said Crowley brought you?”

“Yeah…Beth told me about you like Lucifer had asked and I freaked…and Beth got upset because i freaked and sort of blew up, saying the only reason Lu was trying to break out again was for you and that no one cares about the way she feels… So I guess Crowley thought she should…” She looked at Beth, “tell Lucifer herself…”

 

Lucifer turned to Beth, Tevy’s words ringing in his ears. “Beth…is that true? Is that really the way you feel?” His voice cracked slightly with emotion, though she couldn’t tell if it were with anger or sorrow.

Beth’s face turned a wierd shade of magenta. “It’s just….I’ve been left alone for so long….and I didn’t know you would contact people with your telepathy…so it started festering inside my heart. I wondered why you hadn’t contacted me just to talk to me with this power. Do…Lucifer, after all these millennia….do you still love me? I just wasn’t sure anymore.”

Lucifer held her hand tighter, and caressed her cheek with his other hand. “Beth…I’ve never stopped loving you. Never, you hear me?” He tilted her head by holding her chin, forcing her to look at him. “I felt like I didn’t deserve you. But I still tried to find you, my dear.”

“Then how come I didn’t see you the last time you broke out? I tried to find you with every single mission I was on, I’d slip away trying to find you.” Beth’s voice broke with a sob, tears streaming down her face.

“The other angels made sure that you were always on missions that were far from me. I was looking for you too. Unluckily….the Winchester boys caught up with me before I could find you, and sent me back here.” He reached into his pocket, pulling out a wad of crumpled paper, and handed it to her.

“What’s this?” She took the crumpled papers, almost amazed by how many small papers made up the ball, and how much writing seemed to be on them.

“Letters to you. My prison guards always refused to post them, so I kept them, hoping for the time that I’d be able to escape and give them to you.” He brushed her bangs out of her eyes.

 

“Tevy,” Gabriel’s voice was raspy and low, growing weary, “You have to get me out of here.”

“How the fuck do you think I would ever be able to figure out how?”  

“Your ‘King’?” Gabriel’s voice dripped with hatred, “I bet you he knows how to open the cage… I won’t rough him up too bad if you get him to help us…”

Tevy nodded, not really knowing what she was getting herself into.

Beth scoffed. “What makes you think that he’ll go along with this? If you get popped from the cage, so does Lucifer, and what’s stopping -him- from tearing him to pieces? I sure as hell won’t get in the way, I know better.” She turned to Lucifer, smirking. “Besides…you get cute when you’re angry.”

Lucifer looked at her with a bemused look on his face. “My dear…you sure have a weird taste in men if that’s why you like me.”

Gabriel turned to look at his brother, “Luci… would you honestly kill Crowley over this? i thought you said you were done fighting?  Plus i think i’m the one who should be roughing him up in this situation…”

Lucifer paused. “Brother, he did steal my throne, and has self-proclaimed himself as the king of hell. How would you deal with an upstart like him? Then again…maybe I won’t be too rough on him. He let Beth come see me. That’s more than I can say for the previous leaderships of Hell since I was thrown here.” He fell silent, pondering it in his head.

 

“He might be our only chance out of here…” Gabriel said, still not letting up on his grip on Tevy.  “As much of a douche-nozzle as he is, maybe we should give him a chance.  I don’t see any other route outa here…”

 

Lucifer nodded slowly. “So we use him to get out, and leave him alone once we’re out? Huh…guess I’ve lost my job then as ‘Satan’. I should rip him to pieces. But…” He stroked Beth’s cheek longingly. “I’ll let it pass for now. Nuthatch…..I’ve missed you for all the years I’ve been gone. It’s been an eternity…I look forward to the day when I hold you in my arms once again.”

Beth blushed deeply and smiled. “I look forward to that day as well. It’s been a bleak life without you. We could explore the remotest parts of the world together once again…” She blushed harder, lending more meaning to the words than she meant to. She cleared her throat. “So…now that the four of us are together to talk, what’s the game plan? Boys, what can us girls do for you, to get you out of here?”

 

“Find Death…” Gabriel said, “And the Winchesters… They have 3 of the 4 rings to open the pit, Death still has his… Stealing from the boys would be easy enough, but you would have to figure something out to get the ring from Death because he wanted us in here, it was the only reason he even let Dean use his ring…”

 

Beth grinned slightly. “I’m sure I could find the Winchesters. We’ve had…run-ins in the past. Tevy, do you think you can handle finding Death?”

“Y-yeah…”  Tevy looked into Gabriel’s eyes nervously, “I’m sure I can figure out a way to weasel that ring from him…”  Gabriel smiled and rubbed her cheek again, wishing he could kiss her so badly.

Lucifer frowned slightly. “It’ll be really difficult to convince Death to give up his ring. I’ll see if I can put some feelers out and see if I can figure out what he wants.”

Beth shrugged. “I could probably just give him a burger or something. I guess we’ll just have to see.”

 

“I heard he likes Pizza…” Adam chimed in quickly before Michael grabbed him by his hair and pulled him into the hellfire down the hallway.

“Just be careful okay?” Gabriel gripped tighter onto Tevy’s arm, “You’re smart, you’ll figure it out….Just.. be careful.”

Tevy nodded, trembling again as tears spilled out once more.  “I wish you could hold me…”

Gabriel smiled, almost completely out of delirium, tearing up as he held her cheek again, “Me too… Soon…”

 

Beth gripped Lucifer’s hand tightly. “Don’t wait so long contact me next time, alright?”

Lucifer nodded, memorizing her eyes as he smiled sadly. “I promise, Nuthatch. I -will- see you again soon. And don’t let that squirt interrupt us again.”

Beth laughed. “I think you sufficiently scared the crap out of him, my dear.”

 

One of the hounds tugged at Tevy’s fishnets, beckoning her to follow its pack, they were already walking towards what she expected to be the exit.  She frantically reached to Gabriel, gripping his arm as he did as well.  “They will take you back up to Crowley’s, go before they disappear.” Gabriel’s voice was shaky, he didn’t want to let her go yet.  Tevy broke down again, holding onto his arm.  Gabriel hushed her, running his thumb over her lip.  “You’ll be okay… I’m not going anywhere and Luci said he would stop beating on me for a bit.”  He forced a smile before kissing his fingers and softly pressing them against her lips.  “I love you, Sugar.”

“I l-love you…” She slowly started letting go, both of them lingering to let go of each other’s fingers at the last second, she held onto his fingers still as she looked over to Beth to see if she was ready.

Tears began running down Beth’s face. “It’s too soon. It’s not long enough….”

Lucifer stroked her face comfortingly. “Shhhh, it’s ok. Everything will be fine, you’ll see me soon! I promised, didn’t I? And you know me. I always keep my promises.” He pulled her hand through the slat slightly more, and kissed it gently. “I love you. Now don’t keep the hellhounds waiting; this isn’t a place you want to get lost in.” He slowly let her hand go, hating that he had to.

Beth nodded, shuddering slightly from trying to keep her sobs inside her. She turned slowly, following Tevy’s lead.

 

Tevy and Gabriel gazed into each other’s eyes as she slowly let go of his hand.  Ash she walked towards the beasts, she glanced over her shoulder, he was watching her walk away, tears silently flowing down his cheeks.  

A portal opened up a few yards away, one by one the hounds all jumped through.  Tevy looked back once more as Gabriel blew a kiss to her, before she stepped in and vanished.

Beth turned, catching one last glimpse of Lucifer, and choked slightly on her tears. She waved once in farewell, and he waved back jauntily. Before she could change her mind and run back to him, she stepped through the portal and vanished also.

 

Gabriel sank to the floor, turning to lean against the wall.  He ran his fingers through his hair, pushing it back and sighing, trying not to break down.

Lucifer sank down into a sitting position like Gabe, shuddering hard, his face hidden in his hands, and strange strangled sounds came from him as he strained to stay quiet.

 

Gabriel crawled over to his brother and pushed his legs apart, kneeling in the gap between his legs and sliding his arms around Lucifer’s body, nuzzling into him as close as he could.  

 

Lucifer wrapped his arms around Gabriel, clinging to him as tight as he could, and muffled sobs came from him as he buried his face in Gabriel’s sweet-smelling hair. “Too short…too short a time….” he choked.

 

“At least you can still talk to her…” Gabriel spoke softly, “I can’t even get a decent connection to Tevy…”  He rubbed his brother’s arm lightly. “They’ll be back…”  He seemed to be consoling himself as well as his brother, his heart aching with the memory of her walking away, looking into his eyes with tears running down her cheeks.

 

Lucifer groaned into Gabriel’s hair, his heart aching badly with longing. He’d shoved all his love for Beth and his misery and pain into a tiny corner of his heart for millennia, only to have a fifteen minute meeting with her break open the dam and let it all spill out at once. “It hurts, Gabe. So much.” He curled tightly, trying to ride the waves of pain instead of drown in them.

 

“Welcome to the world of feeling, big bro…”  He smirked, “It sucks…”

* * *

 

Beth blinked as she and Tevy stepped out of the portal. They were back in Crowley’s office in Hell, and the room was empty except for the pair of them. Shaking slightly, Beth walked over the couch she had slept on previously, and collapsed on it. She curled up in a ball, shaking with sobs. “Way too short. HAVE to get him out. How….” She shook slightly, then took a deep breath, attempting to calm herself. When her body was steady, she brushed her hair out of her eyes. “I need to contact the Winchester boys…this’ll be an interesting conversation…” She looked around for a phone, but didn’t see any in sight. “I guess…I’ll wait til we get home.”

“You’re not actually going to tell them why we need the keys, right?”  Tevy asked, “They’re heads would explode if their heard we were trying to get Lucifer out again…”

 

Beth scoffed. “I’m not that stupid. I would just tell them that I’m taking them for safe-keeping or something. Or, just find out where they keep it, and steal it myself.” She paused, grinning to herself, already daydreaming of all the stuff she could do with Lucifer when she got him out. “I could tell them that one of the factions is going to try to restart the apocolypse to try and reset heaven, or something like that, and that I need to keep it safe. I could help with a few cases, gain their trust. Once I can get that, maybe I can find out where they have the rings, get them, and jet away. That’s one plan that I could do. Though it might be a two person plan….I may need your help whenever you’re not trying to find Death and snatch his ring.”

 

“Dude….” Tevy groaned, “I don’t even know where to start with Death… how the hell do you con a dude like that?”

 

Beth shrugged. “Maybe you don’t. You be honest with him. I mean…he’s -Death-. He’s kinda a bit of a badass. I don’t know, Tevy, maybe we shouldn’t try to deceive him. We can work together on whatever task he wants us to do so that we can get his ring.” She looked around. “Um…where’s Crowley?”

 

“Probably at home…”  Tevy sighed, collecting her things and making her way to the door.  “I’ll ask him what he thinks tomorrow.”  She walked out of the door expecting Beth to follow her on the way out.

Beth nodded. She paused for a second. “I should probably get a phone, so we can keep in touch while we’re separated. Actually…d’ya think that Crowley has the boy’s numbers? I wonder…” She walked over to his desk, looking over the top and started to shuffle the papers around gingerly, trying her best not to disturb them.

 

“Probably.”  She joined Beth at the desk and opened a drawer, moments later finding a note in a book that read ‘Moose’ followed by a number, “Moose?  Thats the big Winchester, right?”

 

“I believe so, yeah. He’s like a flipping skyscraper. I believe it was….” She stopped short, remembering Crowley’s threat if she exposed that he was dosing human blood because of what Moose had done to him. “Yeah, that should be Sam’s number.”

Tevy patted Beth on the back, “Good, grab it and lets go, I’m starving and exhausted and Spud has probably destroyed my apartment by now…”  She made her way out the door and started down the hall to the exit.

 

Beth grabbed the note and stuck it in her pocket, and followed Tevy out of the door. “I don’t know about you…but I’m ready to sleep. God…it’s been such an emotional fucking roller coaster today.” She linked an arm with Tevy and leaned against her gently.

 

“Join the club.”

* * *

 

An incredibly hyper Spud greeted the two of them at the door, bouncing up and down until Tevy picked him up.  He had to be slung over her shoulder now, he was so big.  “Ugh, dude… you’re getting too big for this…”  She walked in setting her things down.  “So I guess tomorrow we will be going our separate ways in a desperate journey for some gaudy ass, horseman jewelry, huh?”

 

Beth walked over, checking on the momma cat and her kittens who were mewling happily. “I guess so. Think Spud is smart enough to take care of the cats while we’re gone?” She pulled the water dish out of the basket and took it to the sink, refilling it and replaced it. She gently traced one finger down one of the kitten’s backs, wondering at the softness of the young baby’s fur.

“I can ask Crowley to look after them?  He can just come up here, wont have to move em.”  Tevy yawned, “Besides, Spud’s coming with me.”

 

Beth nodded. “I suppose that could work.” She walked to the couch where she had left her baggy shirt and sweatpants from the night before, and went to the bathroom to change. The door didn’t close completely behind her, and she pulled the tight clothes off, sighing slightly. After a bit of a struggle with her hair, she got changed, then caught sight of her makeup in the mirror. “Well shit. Oi, Tevy? Remember how you said not to smudge my makeup? I look worse than a racoon right now. I look like a demon’s cousin or something. Could you help me?”

 

Tevy laughed and shook her head, wetting a paper towel in the kitchen sink and handing it to her through the crack of the door.  “Just wipe it off dude.”

 

Beth took the paper towel. “Thanks…” She briskly rubbed the smeared makeup off her face, sighing contentedly when it was finally gone. She tossed the towel and gathered up her stuff, walking back into the other room. Flopping on the couch, she heaved a large sigh. “What a day….” Her mind whirled with memories of Lucifer’s face, replaying his words like an endless soundtrack in her head. “Hey, Tev? Have you come up with any ideas of how you’re gonna get Death’s ring yet?”

 

“I don’t know!”  Tevy sighed, “Dazzle him with my witts?”  She cupped her boobs, “I’m just gunna talk to Crow about it tomorrow.  Hopefully he will help me, if he doesnt hate me at this point…”

 

Beth winced slightly. “Yeesh…that’ll be an interesting conversation. Forgive me if I’m hiding behind a chair during it.” She sighed slightly. “Tev…I have a bit of a confession to make. I’ve been kinda trying to play cupid, if you hadn’t noticed.”

 

Tevy smirked, “I didn’t until you tried to get us hammered together.”

She grimaced slightly. “Yeah well…you know how well that’s worked out. That was all before I knew that Gabriel was alive. Luci visited me the night we got drunk. You were more out of it than Crow and me. You kinda…well, from what I could see of his face, you broke Crow’s heart. I know what he’s been dosing, but he made me swear not to tell anyone. But it’s the reason he’s been acting weird. That’s why I got mad and left. Then Lucifer told me Gabe was still alive. I’ve kinda fucked up and my plan is now officially shot to hell, and now we’re gonna have an angsty king of hell on our hands. It…kinda breaks my heart for him, though I never thought I’d say that about the guy who stole my lover’s throne.”

 

Tevy shook her head, “Its okay… ill deal with him…”  She felt sick.  She cared for Crowley deeply despite never loving him.  What had she done to him…  “I’m going to sleep… I’ll see you in the morning before we part.”

 

Beth nodded slowly. “Ok…night. Sleep tight…” She pulled the blanket over herself, worried that she had seriously overstepped some boundaries. She lay with her head on her arms, her hair in a simple sleeping braid, thinking through the days events. “Oh, Lucifer….what won’t I do to be in your arms again…”

 

Spud hopped into the bed as Tevy crawled in.  She held Spud next to her and he licked her lovingly, nuzzling Tevy and whimpering when he noticed tears falling from her eyes.  How the fuck am i going to do this? 

* * *

 

The next morning, Tevy had a bag packed and ready to go.  She had an old V-neck shirt on she had stolen from Balthazar, along with his necklace he always wore that she had managed to find after his death, her black hoodie, unzipped, big bagged Tripp shorts and blue stockings under her boots, which held Gabriel’s angel blade.  “You call the hunters yet?”

 

Beth had woken up early, putting her club tank and shorts back on, along with the leather wrist bracelets. “No, not yet.” She grabbed her baggy camo jacket and slung it on, taking her angel blade and sticking it into her Doc Martin boots. She did a mental checklist, making sure she was adequately presentable. “I was just about to, actually.” She looked Tevy. “You ready to go? Have you talked to Crowley about the cats, or should I?” She pulled out a small cell phone, making sure she’d logged Moose’s number in the contacts.

“I’m going to go talk with him now.”  She said, leaning against the door, “I need to ask him about Death too, remember?”  

 

She nodded. “So…do you want me to come with you? Or do you want to say goodbye here?”

 

“You should probably be on your way, who knows where those two are.”  She walked up to Beth, “And I think i need to talk to him alone… about more personal matters too…”

 

“…Alright.” Beth picked up a small knapsack that she’d bought earlier. “Hope you don’t mind, but I raided your pantry for food for the road.”

 

“Its fine,” She smiled, “You text me if you need anything, ya hear?”  She scooped up Beth in her arms and hugged her tightly.

Beth froze slightly in surprise from the hug, then tennatively returned the embrace, leaning her head on Tevy’s shoulder. “Of course.” She pulled away slightly. “That reminds me, I need your number. And having Crowley’s probably wouldn’t hurt either.”

 

Tevy smiled and snatched up her phone, clicking in her number and Crowley’s from memory.  “There ya go, home skillet.”

 

Beth grinned. “Thanks, Tev.” She slung the knapsack over her shoulder, looking the apartment over one last time, and sighed, slightly sad. “You know, it was such a short time I spent here…but it already feels  like home, and it’s…strange, you know? That so much has happened over so few days.” She walked over to the cat’s basket, gently petting each kitten and lastly petting the mother. “Wish I could take her with me. She’s been my travel companion for…quite a while.” The momma cat purred loudly, licking Beth’s fingers with her sandpaper tongue. She sighed again and stood up. “Well…I’ve decided I’m not going to say goodbye.” She smiled. “It sounds too final…so instead, I’ll say this.” She held up a hand. “I’ll see you again in a bit.”

 

“This is your home, Beth.” She said, as they exited the building, “You come back here when you need to come home.”  Tevy nodded, tipping her invisible hat, “Until next time.”  She turned and began to walk to the alleyway to Hell with Spud trotting next to her.

 

Beth watched her walk away, and grinned. “Hopefully we won’t be parted too long. Love ya, Sis.” She squared her shoulders and walked towards the main roads, whistling a merry tune.


	10. Broken Hearts and Lonely Roads

After a few minutes of walking, Beth pulled out her phone, and dialed Moose’s number. It rang a few times, then a gruff voice started talking, telling her to leave a message. She frowned slightly. “Hiya, Sam. You might not remember me, but I need your help. My name’s Beth Robin. I helped y’all with a case once before. Please call back as soon as possible, and let me know where you are. My number is eight four seven, seven two five, twenty five zero two. Thanks.” She hung up, and frowned.

* * *

 

Spud and Tevy made their way down into Hell, descending the stairs in the alley and making their way to Crowley’s office.  Upon reaching his door, Tevy didn’t bother knocking, walking right into the office and staggered back in shock when she saw what she had walked into.  Crowley was sitting at his desk, syringe in one hand, aiming the needle in his other arm.  Tevy ran up to him before he could react, grabbing the vial from him.

“Really, Crowley?”  She snarled.  He looked up at her with puppy eyes, in shock, “You don’t need this, you idiot!!  You’re ruining yourself!”

Crowley sat with his mouth agape, staring at her and then to the needle.  Finally he found words, “I… What do you care?!”

“It’s putting you off your game, man!  You’re supposed to be the fearsome king of hell, not some mushy pile of angsty emotion, laying in your office watching HBO and crying over drama!”

Crowley snatched the vial from Tevy and put it in his desk.  He wanted to push her, to scare her, but he couldn’t.  He couldn’t touch her in a violent way anymore.  His heart wouldn’t let him.  “What do you want?  Why did you come here?”

Tevy sighed, “Crowley… Look…”  Her voice softened, “I’m sorry for whatever I said last night… it was the booze talking…”

“Doesn’t mean its not true…” Crowley sulked in his chair.  

“Okay but…”  Tevy groaned, “Crowley please… I really need your help…”

He couldn’t resist her when she made that face at him.  She looked pathetic and weak again, striking his heart.  “Fine… What?”  He sighed.

“I need you to talk to Death…”  Tevy braced herself when she saw his eyes widen when he met her gaze again.

After a moment he responded, “Why the hell do you need to talk to Death?””

“I….need his ring…”

Crowley scoffed and shook his head, “You wanna pop the cage, don’t you.”

“Well, do you really blame me, Crow?  Gabriel is wasting away down there, it’s not fair!”

“He was put down there for a reason…”

“I don’t care… Whatever reason that is, I just don’t care, it’s not a good enough reason.  Crowley, Please… If you ever cared about me… Help him.”  Tears welled in her eyes as she looked at the king.  Her lip quivering involuntarily.  “I can’t live knowing he’s down there suffering.”

 

Crowley sighed, as Tevy broke down, sobbing into her hands.  Spud rubbed his head on her leg as Crowley stood, walking up to Tevy and pulling her into his chest and running his hand through her hair.  After a moment, he spoke softly to her, still holding her tightly, “I’ll help you… on one condition.”

Tevy looked up at him, eyes puffy and her make up ruined, “Anything…Name it, Crow…”

“I help you spring him from the pit…” He paused, sighing and looking away for a moment, “And you promise to leave me out of your life from then on.”

Her eyes widened, “Crowley…”

“No, I can’t handle this anymore, Tevy.  You’re right, the blood is messing me up, but as long as you’re here, I can’t quit it.”  He stepped away from her, “The past 2 years with you working for me, coming to me in the night and forgetting reality with me, letting me take you in ways I shouldn’t have.  The nights we spent tearing each other apart in a heated, erotic blood bath, I never felt a drop of emotion in any of it.  It was completely primal!”  Crowley blinked hard and turned away from her, “But then… after the Moose fed me his blood… I began to feel, and those weeks spent in their dungeon, I longed for you.  And when they let me go… I came back to you and now… now I can’t fight the urge to shoot up so I don’t lose these feelings for you because they are all I have…  I help you get your ‘true love’ out of hell and you go… go somewhere the two of you can hide away from this world, away from Heaven and Hell where they can’t stop you, but you leave me out of the picture for the rest of eternity.”

Tears poured down Tevy’s face.  “Crowley… I never meant to hurt you…”

“Promise me…” Crowley walked back up to her, taking her hands and making her look him in the eyes.  “And I’ll get you that ring… Make a deal…Keep it.”

Tevy nodded, sobbing as she did so.  Crowley’s eyes threatened to pour over as he took the back of her head in his hand.  “Seal the deal then, love…” He whispered, pulling her in as she wrapped her hands around his neck, placing her lips on his and kissing him.  For a moment, they held each other, tears spilling from both of their eyes as they shut them.

When Tevy opened her eyes, she was sitting in her bed in her apartment.  Spud was next to her along with a black rose, a note attached.  She opened the note.  Inside was directions to open the portal into the caverns of hell that held the cage.  At the bottom, in red ink, it read “Hell will surely miss its beloved Angel.  Forever Your King, Crowley”

* * *

 

Days dragged as Beth travelled, continuing to call the Winchester boys without much luck. “They must be on a case right now and haven’t gotten my messages yet….or they changed phones…again.”

She’d gone back to occasionally living with homeless people, taking advantage of the free food and lodging. She managed to dodge most of the men’s advances on her with both them and her remaining unscathed, but sometimes she had to break some bones to keep them away. It was a monotonous process that repeated itself everytime she changed homeless camps, but sometimes she found it to be a welcome routine to keep her on her toes.

It wasn’t until she had reached some little town in Kansas that she finally got a response back, a short text from Sam, asking what the issue was. She was alone at the time, so she immediately called him.

“Hey, Sam, it’s Beth. Where are you?” She asked.

“We’re in Kansas,” he answered, “in Kansas City. What’s up?”

“I have news that might interest you. I’ve heard that the angels are going to try to start the Apocalypse again. They apparently think that it’ll help reset heaven and they’ll be able to get back in.” Beth heard Sam’s intake of breath as he thought through what she had told him. He was silent for long enough that she almost wondered if they’d lost connection.

“Hello? Are you still there?” She asked.

“Yeah…”Sam said hesitantly. “How do you know this, Beth? How’d you get my number anyways?”

She paused, thinking fast. Would it be better to masquerade as a demon or human? “I got it from a demon I ganked a week ago; he had his boss’s phone for some reason, never found out why.” She held her breath, hoping her fib would work.

“…Alright. We should meet up, talk about your news more thoroughly. I don’t see how setting off the Apocalypse would ‘reset heaven’, but I suppose it’s worth hearing. Here, come to this address.” He listed off the address, and she memorized it quickly. After a few more polite exchanges, they hung up, and she grabbed her pack.

* * *

 

Flying was not nearly as easy for her as it used to be, being that the Fall from Heaven damaged her greatly, and it still affected her. She could only manage short jumps each time, and only to minor-ish towns. It took her a mere two days to get to Kansas City, and half day to reach the the address that Sam had specified. Shifting nervously, she knocked on the dingy motel door. She heard a slight bit of noise from inside and saw movement flicker in the peephole, making her blush slightly and fiddle with her hair. The door opened to reveal Dean, looking at her with a surprised look on his face.

“Beth! Long time no see! What are you doing here?” He asked, laughing slightly.

“Didn’t Sam tell you I was coming? He gave me this address…” Beth replied, confused.

Dean frowned. “I’ll be sure to add that to the list of the stuff he’s -not- telling me nowadays. He’s not trusted me much since…well, never mind that. Why are you here again? Please, come in! But, of course you know the drill, right?” He grinned embarrassedly, holding up the canteen of holy water.

Beth eyed it warily. “I’d…rather not. It’s complicated.”

Dean’s face hardened suddenly, and before she could react, he had splashed holy water on her. She cried out as her arms and face flared into pain, steam billowing from her body.

Dean’s face sagged. “You’re a demon?” His voice almost raised to a fever pitch. “IS THERE ANYONE THAT I TALK TO THAT ISN’T A FUCKING DEMON ANYMORE?” He cursed as he sat the canteen down inside the room and picked up the shotgun that was lying on the table, filled with salt rounds she assumed.

“No! I’m not a demon, I swear! Just listen to me for a second!” Beth said forcibly, trying desperately to blink through the tears brought on by the pain.

“Why should I trust a demon? Is Beth still in there? When did you hijack her body?” Dean’s voice was gruff and hard, unforgiving in its tone. He held the shotgun loosedly, thought it was firmly trained on her.

Beth slowly held her hands up. “Yes, I’m possessed by a demon. But I’m Beth, talking to you right now. It’s really me.” She stepped hesitantly inside the door and tried to enter the rest of the room, but was brought to a halt. She sighed. “Lemme guess, devil’s trap under the rug?”

Dean nodded, still scowling. He shut the door behind her with a pole, making sure she could not get at him. “It’s standard hunter protocol, but even Beth would know that. So….demon…what were you and Sammy doing?”  
Beth rolled her eyes. “For the last time, I’m still Beth! -I’m- not the demon, I just happen to have one in me! She’s not in control right now. And I’m here to warn you that the angels are going to try to restart the Apocalypse!” She crossed her arms in frustration.

Dean paused. “Wait…the Apocalypse? We already did that song and dance….we threw Lucifer and Michael’s asses back into the cage. Why would the angels want to pop them again?”

Beth’s heart twinged slightly as she heard Lucifer’s name, and she fiddled with her pocket slightly, fingering the roll of letters that were still nestled inside. “They believe that if they restart the Apocalypse, that maybe it will reset Heaven and reopen it; maybe it would help them kick Metatron out of Heaven.”

Dean blinked. “That’s a hell of an idea.” He lowered the gun slightly. “Would definitely help get all of these damned angels out of our hair…but there’s no way I want to go through all that end of the world crap again.”

Beth watched him closely. “What did you do with the rings that you sealed the cage with? That’s one of the first things that they’ll be looking for. I can almost guarantee that wherever you have them no, it’s not safe. Have you angel-proofed all of your various hideyholes? They’ll be searching every single one.” She looked at him in slight disdain. “Now, if you would kindly let me go? I’d love to sit and chat with you, someone I consider to be a friend, even though your welcome has been less than warm.”

Dean shook his head. “You’re not going anywhere til you tell me how you’re a demon and yet still Beth.”

Beth glared. “I can’t tell you that, Dean. I know you don’t trust anyone, but just at least fake it now for me. I have no reason to hurt you or your brother; I only have your best interests at heart. I don’t want the end of the world to happen.” She shifted slightly, her angel blade clicking against one of her boot buckles.

Dean’s eyes zeroed in on the angel blade. “Where’d you get that from? Which angel did you kill?” His voice grew harder.

Beth sighed in frustration. “I didn’t kill anyone or steal it from anyone, Dean.” She shifted again, trying to get it out of sight. “Please, PLEASE don’t figure it out.”

He stared at her, unblinking. “Alright…tell me more about the angel’s plans, then. How did you find out about it? Why would you come to Sammy and I and tell us about it? Being a demon, wouldn’t you want the Apocalypse to start again?”

“I’m not a demon!” Beth shouted, her eyes beginning to glow dangerously bright blue. She took a deep breath, and her eyes returned to normal. “And I don’t want the Apocalypse to happen, ok? I like the Earth the way it is; I’d rather it not go all ‘end of’ and junk. You stopped it the last time, so you’re kinda the go-to people to go to, to stop this type of shit.”

Dean nodded slowly. “Were you possessed the last time you helped us with a case?” He snapped his fingers, trying to remember what the case had been.

“You mean the case with the vampire nest in Tulsa? No, I was not possessed at the time. By the time I helped you with the leviathans in Peoria, I was possessed. However, I can assure you that I’ve always been the one talking to you, not the demon.”

Dean’s eyes narrowed. “I can’t be sure of that. How are you going to convince me to be sure of it?”

Beth sighed in exasperation. “I’m going to have to show him. I really hope that this doesn’t make things worse.” She slowly withdrew her angel blade, causing Dean to stiffen slightly.

“What are you doing with that?” He asked quickly.

Beth gritted her teeth in preparation. “I’m proving to you that I’m not the demon, you assbutt.” She drew the blade’s edge across her arm slowly, cutting through the already scarred flesh, her grace beginning to shine through. She sucked in her breath to try and avoid whimpering from the pain. “See? Not a demon.” She clamped her hand over the bleeding gash, healing herself and wiping away the leftover blood. Flicking the blood from the blade, she cleaned it up and stuck it back in her boot.

Dean looked dumbfounded. “Wait…how…how can you be a demon and a angel in the same body? That shouldn’t be possible for long periods of time, right? How does that even work?”

Beth grinned humorlessly. “Honestly, it shouldn’t work. As for my vessel, she’s dead. She was in a coma when I got permission to use her body, and she died shortly afterwards. So, this is my body now. I have the demon chained up in a corner of my mind, so I’m the one in charge all the time. She gives the body some unfortunate side effects for me, such as the holy water and the devil’s traps.”

Dean blinked. “That’s…wow. I’ve never even heard of this situation before. It’s…kinda weird and I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around it.”

Beth nodded. “Just do me a favor and don’t tell Sam, ok? You weren’t even supposed to find out. It’s not something I want other angels to know. I’m already a renegade to them. They’d try to kill the demon but we’re both locked in this body, so it’d kill me too. No one can know, Dean.”

Dean slowly nodded. “Ok…I can understand that. I won’t tell, Beth.” He bent down next to the Devil’s trap and scratched away a line of the sigil, setting her free.

Beth walked out of the trap, sighing in relief. “Thanks. Anyways, like I said before, you need to check wherever you have the horsemen rings. The angels will be looking for them.” She flopped down on one of the motel beds, crossing her legs. The self harm marks on her arms and legs stood out prominently in the room’s dim light.

Dean watched her warily, walking to the other bed, and sitting down facing her. “So…” He searched for a subject that wasn’t angels or demons or her being both in one. “Um…did your…vessel already have those scars when you entered her? Or…” He broke off hesitantly, his eyes slowly tracing her thigh up to her cut-off shorts.

Beth nodded slightly. “She had a few of them already, the oldest being the ones on her wrists.” She unclipped the leather wrist cuffs, and displaying the deeply raised scars on her wrists.

Dean winced in sympathy. “Ouch. So I’m guessing that’s how she got into the coma and died?” He scooted closer and gently traced her scars with the tips of his fingers.

Beth shivered, goosebumps following Dean’s fingers. “Yes. She tried to kill herself. When I offered to help her, she merely requested I use her body to do good in the world, the kind she tried to but failed to do. When I said I would, she gave me her consent to enter her body.”

Dean’s eyes flickered to her face for a second, an unfamiliar expression on his face. “Well…I’m glad the new owner of her body is less suicidal. That doesn’t explain the other cuts, however.” He traced her arm, running his fingers over the length of her scars, causing her to shiver again, and she slowly pulled her arm away.

Beth took a shaky breath. “Anyways…do you have a plan for how you’re going to hide the horsemen rings?”

Dean paused, then moved to the bed and sat next to her, flopping lazily next to her. “I’ll probably start driving to them and checking them tomorrow. It’s too late to go tonight, and I’m waiting on Sammy to get back.”

Beth leaned down on the bed, placing her hands behind her head and stared up at the ceiling. “I’ll have to come with you as back-up. If you encounter any other angels, I can give you enough time to get away.” She turned her head to look at him, jumping slightly when she found that he’d laid down’ also, his face closer to her than she expected.

He nodded. “Alright, but keep in mind, I still don’t trust you completely. I’ll be keeping my eye on you, make sure you’re not up to any funny…business…” His voice trailed off as she stretched, her top pulling up slightly above her navel, revealing her more peculiar looking scars. His eyes traced her body slowly, lingering on the devil’s trap that was scarred into her stomach.

She watched him closely, then said bluntly, “Dean, do you like my body? You’re staring.”

He jumped slightly. “What? I…um…” He stuttered as he dragged his eyes away from her body reluctantly.

Beth propped herself up on one arm, smirking slightly. “I said you’re staring.” She chuckled slightly. “Geeze, dude, when’s the last time you got laid?”

Dean rolled his eyes and shifted away from her. “None of your business, angel.”

Beth shrugged in indifference. “Whatever you say, human.” She stretched again, yawning. “Well, until Sammy shows up or we leave, I’m taking a nap.”

Dean nodded, shifting slightly uncomfortably. “Alright. I’ll wake you when we leave.”

* * *

 

Tevy’s fingers were coated in chalk.  After an hour, she had perfected the sigil on her bedroom floor.  A bowl of various ingredients, including sulfur and ground bone amongst other things, sat in the middle of the sigil.  Tevy held her wrist over the bowl and sliced it open with a knife, pouring her blood into it as she whispered a few words in latin.  A portal opened in front of her at that moment, tucking the knife in her jacket, she darted through it without a second thought.

Once through, hellhounds met her in the cave.  She ran with them towards the cage, the pack seeming to know exactly where she was going.  Tevy ran straight to the window next to the door.  There was no one and nothing in sight besides the hellfire.  “Gabriel…” She whispered.  Not a second later, Gabriel popped up from under the window where she couldn’t see him, startling her slightly.

“Tevy.” Gabe slid his hand through the window, “You came back…”

Tevy held his hand tight, “Yeah, Crowley gave me the way to get in; there’s no way I was going to wait to see if it worked…”

Gabriel rubbed her hand in her thumb.  “Did you figure out how to get Death’s ring?”

“Crowley’s going to get it for me…”

Gabriel raised his brow, “He actually agreed to help you spring me outa here?”

Tevy sighed, “Yes, but… On one condition…”

“What?  What did he make you do?”  Gabriel tightened his grip on her hand.

“He made me promise to stay away from him after we get you out… forever.”

“What?  Thats it?” Gabriel laughed, and Tevy shot him a look.

“What do you mean that’s it? Gabriel, I’m sorry, but I care about Crowley… a whole lot actually… He might be a demon and the King of Hell but he was there for me when you couldn’t be…”

“He also beat you and used you like a sex doll, Tev.”

“Because I wanted him to!  and that doesn’t matter, he housed me, gave me a job and a pass time… I’ve come to care deeply for him over the past couple years, Gabe, it’s not that easy to just say ‘kay, bye! Nice knowing you!’”

Gabriel frowned, “I.. I’m sorry, Sugar…I guess I didn’t really know how you felt about him.”

Tevy sighed and leaned her head on the window, shutting her eyes.  “I just want you out of here.”

The corners of Gabriel’s mouth twisted upwards in a smirk, “I want you in my arms…”

Tevy barely smiled, “I want you to hold me again…”

Gabriel traced her lips with his fingertips, “I need to taste your lips again…”

Tevy finally smiled brightly at him when he wiggled his eyebrows at her.  “That’s my girl,” He whispered.  The two of them stood there together in silence, holding tightly onto each other’s hands, forgetting the pain in their hearts for the moment while they had the chance.

* * *

 

Beth woke when it was early morning, hearing the sound of hushed voices. “I guess Sam’s back.”She listened as the voices got slightly more heated and louder, so she moved her body and sighed. The voices immediately lulled to silence for a second, and she could feel two pairs of eyes on her. After a few minutes, the voices started again, and they moved towards the door, the sounds of bags being carried and muffled. A minute later, she peeked an eye open, checking the room. It was empty, and all of the boy’s belongings were gone. She sat up, then heard the distant sound of the Impala’s engine reving as they drove away.

She sighed heavily and grabbed her knapsack as she ran out of the door, taking flight as the Impala started to speed out of sight. “I knew they’d try this, I just knew.” She pulled out her phone while she flew high above the Winchesters, invisible to their sight. She quickly dialed Tevy’s number, cursing in Enochian when she only got her voicemail. “Ok, Tevy, I met up with Dean Winchester, and talked to Sam on the phone. They just tried to pull a duck and run on me, so I’m flying above them currently, keeping an eye on them. Dean didn’t know I was an angel before now, but he knows now. I’ll keep you updated when I can, so I’d also love to be updated about what’s happening on your end! Thanks! Bye!” She flipped the phone shut, growling in frustration and trying to put her exhaustion out of her mind. “I really hope they don’t drive the entire day. I’m not sure I can fly that long…”

* * *

 

Tevy paced her living room.  Spud watching over her carefully on the couch, chewing on a pillow.  “He wants me gone, Spud…” She spoke to the creature, “Like, for real, gone.  Out of his life… Where are we going to go, little dude?  We can’t stay here….”

Tevy flipped out her cell phone that was going off a hundred times.  “I guess I didn’t have service down there…one missed call?”  She hit a button and held the phone to her ear.  It was a voicemail from Beth.  Tevy shook her head, “Damnit, I wish I could have picked that up…”  She sighed as she typed a text message to Beth into her phone.

“Hey dude, stay on their trail, if you need me I can come kick their asses into next Tuesday.  Crowley is on the case for Death’s ring… I really need to talk to you about that tho… if you got time and you need me, ping me.  I’ll be there in a heartbeat.”

 

She sent the text and tossed the phone on the couch before flopping into it and on top of Spud.  Groaning, she turned her head and looked at the photo of Gabriel, Balthazar and herself on the coffee table.  “Balthazar… BALTHAZAR!! His house has to still be there!!”  She shot up, shaking Spud in her hands,  “It was warded and hidden, theres no way it’s been touched since he was killed!  And it’s far away from anyone’s reach!  Oh, this is perfect!”  She squeezed Spud who looked as though his eye balls would pop out of his head any moment, and stood up, running to her room to start packing.  “Spud!  Hurry and help me pack!!!”  Spud leapt from the couch and started picking up his toys for her to pack away.

“SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT!!” Tevy ran back into the living room, tripping over Spud and knocking him over as she ran to the closet, “I forgot about the cat!!”  She flung the door open to find the momma cat still nested in with her kittens, her food and water bowl full.  “How the…” Spud trotted over and nuzzled the momma cat happily, grabbing the water dish in his muzzle and walking it to the bathroom sink, exchanging the old water for fresh water, and then giving it back to the cat.  “Huh….” Tevy laughed, “Well i guess you have this covered, huh?”

Spud wagged happily and watched the baby cats as they slept with their mother.  Tevy smiled and pet her beast on the head, “Good boy.”

* * *

 

Dean checked his mirrors constantly, checking for any suspicious vehicles that he thought might be Beth following them.

“So, tell me again what she said, Dean?” Sam asked.

Dean shook his head. “She told me the same stuff she told you, Sammy. She said that the angels want to restart the whole ‘end of the world’ deal. I don’t know, Sammy, I really don’t trust her. But I still think we should check to make sure that the rings are safe where they are. It’d be a good idea to probably change where we have them, to start out with.” He checked his mirrors again. “Really hope she didn’t wake up when we were leaving.”

Sam nodded. “We ended up leaving them in Dad’s storage bunker, right? We should move it to the Men of Letters bunker, at the very least. It’s one of the safest places in the world we could have it.” He scratched his head, chewing over the information he knew. “I just don’t understand why they…the angels, I mean…why they’d want the world to end, since they’re all here on Earth. Wouldn’t that be counterproductive, because they’d perish along with the rest of us? It just doesn’t really make sense for them to try this.”

“They are starting to get quite desperate, though. We’ve been having trouble with the various factions, not to mention Metatron and Gadreel running around, screwing stuff for us…Is it really so farfetched that they’d try it?” Dean was starting to relax slightly, having driven for about an hour at this point with no sign of Beth anywhere.

Sam frowned slightly. “I just don’t know. Something sounds off about this entire situation. Can’t put my finger on it.” He switched on the radio, going from channel to channel, then a familiar song came on, blaring into the cab, Heat of the moment, by Asia.

“Hey, stop here, I like this song!” Dean grinned widely.

Sam winced. “I don’t,” he said as he grudgingly turned the song down to background noise, trying to block it out as his brother mouthed the lyrics silently, grinning.

* * *

 

Tevy was all packed, just a few backpacks and a suitcase.  Spud was big enough to haul a duffle bag on his back along with the momma cat and her kittens in a basket hanging from his mouth as they walked a block down the road to a parking garage where they took an elevator to the top floor.  “There she is…” She set the bags down and shook her head at the sight in front of her.  A 1991 Toyota Camry. Silver with a red hood and chipping everywhere, riddled with dents and dings.  “I missed you, you nasty POS…”  She popped the trunk and packed the luggage before hopping into the car with spud.

She turned the key in the ignition and the care sputtered to a start, the whole thing rattling, “Thats mah girl!  Ready, Spuds Mackenzie?!”  Spud gulped and whined, making sure the kittens were secure on the floor in front of the passenger seat as Tevy backed out of her spot and hit the road, the Camry’s strut rattling and banging against the bottom of the car.  “Yeah… now would be a great time to have wings…”

* * *

 

Beth was starting to get sick of flying, so she had started car-surfing as she followed the two brothers. As they started getting into less populated areas, she started to debate whether or not she’d be able to fly, or if she could land on the top of the Impala and just hide whenever they would stop for gas. Once she was getting tired enough, she made the decision and quietly landed on the car’s roof, invisibly holding on. Before long, she’d fallen into an easy yet boring routine; she clung to the roof while they drove, she’d eat on the roof from her bag’s supply when they would stop for gas and food, and take quick breaks whenever she could, always keeping the Impala and the boys in sight.

Beth dozed slightly as she clung to the hood of the Impala. The last two weeks had lulled her into a dull routine as she hid from the Winchester’s sight, traveling from town to town, sometimes waiting as they worked the odd cases they’d come across. Her phone had died the first day, and for the last week or so, Dean had refused to stay the nights near civilization or motels, preferring to sleep in the car. As a result, she’d not had a chance to recharge her phone yet, and the one time she’d tried using her angel mojo, her phone had turned red hot, threatening to burst into pieces. She longed to know how Tevy was doing, and if she’d succeeded in getting Death’s ring yet.

She roused slightly as the Impala slowed and parked in front of a motel. The car doors opened and the boys got out, stretching.

“Sammy, I told you, I’m not comfortable staying at a motel right now! Beth might find us! It’s better we keep on the road; she might’ve heard about that vamp nest we just took out in Princeton!” Dean’s voice was stressed and hard, and he reached inside for his bag before he slammed the car door shut.

“Dean, we’ve been on the road for two whole weeks. We’re thousands of miles from where she last found us, and besides, we haven’t heard or seen a single bit from her since we left her. I think we’ll be fine for one night at this motel.” Sam shouldered his pack and leaned against the car with a smirk. “Besides, you need to stay in a motel, to at least use the shower. You stink to high heaven.”

Dean glared at Sam. “Look who’s talking, Farts McGee. Anyways…I still don’t like it. If we have to stay, it’s just the one night. After that, I want to be back on the road again.”

Sam rolled his eyes as he and his brother began walking towards the motel office to check in. “Whatever you say, you paranoid doofus. Come on, let’s go relax for a night.”

Beth silently fist-pumped the air as they walked away. “SWEEEEEET! I can finally charge my phone!”She waited until the boys had checked in officially and were in the rooms, and she found a spare outlet, plugged in her phone, and checked her phone, grinning as she saw a text from Tevy. She read, and quickly punched in Tev’s number, calling her back, as requested.

  
  


“Beth?” Tevy’s voice chimed on the other end of the phone, “Dude, where the fuck have you been?”

 

“Yeah, the boys have been super paranoid. Phone died. What’s up?” Beth stretched out on the floor, hearing her spine pop, and sighing.

 

“Oh ya, know…” Tevy sighed, “Caring for a litter of kittens and their mother, and a rowdy hound.  I’m about a days drive from Chicago actually… hauled ass out a there.  I’ve claimed a house to myself, my brother’s old place.  Couldn’t stay in the apartment…”  Tevy paused.

 

Beth frowned slightly. “What? Why?”

 

“Funny story actually… remember how I was going to ask Crowley for help with the ring?  Well… He agreed to get it for me.”

 

Beth blinked. “Seriously? That’s awesome! But…wait what’s the catch?”

 

“I… can’t ever see him again… He made me make a deal too…like, sealed in a kiss deal, cannot be broken…” Tevy’s voice cracked slightly as she tried to hold back tears.

 

Beth’s breath hitched slightly. “Oh no…this doesn’t sound good…” She paused. “Ok…? What was the deal? Are you ok?” Her voice hardened as protectiveness flared inside her and she longed to see her sister again. “I swear to God, if he’s hurt you again…”

 

“No, no, that was the deal, Beth, I CAN’T see him again… he told me to go away and never come back… because… I don’t know it hurts him or whatever… I’m not… not really okay but I will be, I just need to get that cage open… I just want this to be over…”

 

Beth’s eyes widened. “He….what?! He gave you up? In a deal?” She whistled low under her breath. “Wow….”

 

“I think he might have… slightly loved me… but like Puppy love, ya know… being new to the whole ‘feeling’ thing… said he couldn’t handle it anymore…”  Tevy groaned, “I need my angel, Beth… I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be able to wait…”

 

Beth frowned again as she bit her tongue, holding back all the retorts that came spilling to her mind. “I understand, Tevy. I’m tailing the boys still obviously.  They’re taking their sweet-ass time to get to the fucking storehouse though.”

 

“Do you need me to come over there and deal with them?  I could at least distract them enough to figure out where it is…”

 

“I think I’ve got it so far…where are you anyways? I’m somewhere in like…hell, I don’t even really know where I am. Princeton is the name of the town, but I forgot which state I’m in now.” Beth sighed and ran her hand through her hair.

 

“I don’t know man, like some remote little part of Pennsylvania at B’s house.  I figure this is a safe enough place to be.  You can join me here whenever you get back.”

 

Beth grinned. “Sounds like a plan. Don’t name the furballs til I get back, ok?”

 

“They all kinda look like little blobs, I don’t think I could.”  She laughed.  “Hurry up before they get out of the tiny-poof-of-cute stage of their life!”

 

Beth laughed. “I’ll do my best. And Tev….I’m sorry about what happened with Crowley. I’m sure it must be a bit hard.” She continued to watch the boy’s room, seeing their silhouettes as their shadows moved around their window.

 

“It serves me right after what I said…”  She sighed, “It’s going to hurt worse if he’s the one who will deliver the ring to me… but I doubt he will, he’s got enough demons to do his dirty work….”

 

Beth shrugged to herself. “I don’t know. I guess you’ll just have to keep me updated on it…unless you wanna come join me in hunting the boys in the meantime. Then again, would you bring Spud and Animals Inc. with you? That’d be a bit of a hassle.”

 

“I think I better stay with them.  And wait for the ring.  Besides, this place has been abandoned for like 2 years, I’ve been here 2 weeks and its still barely livable.  I feel like mo’ fuckin’ snow white all up in this bitch…”

 

Beth laughed again softly. “I look forward to seeing it then. And I look forward to seeing you and the pets again…Miss you, sis.”

 

“Miss you too, bird.  Eyes on the prize, kiddo.”

 

“Damn straight, girl.” Her smile faded slightly as her voice softened. “Hey….hang strong, ok? I’m sorry about not being there for the last two weeks, but I’ll be back as soon as I get the rings. Tailing the boys sucks. Hell, I’d take Spud wake-up calls over sleeping on this damn impala another night.”

 

“Don’t you be talkin’ smack about my dog, bitch!  Waking up to his rowdy antics is the shit.  I gotta go though, speak of the fucking devil, I think he just dragged a deer carcass to the patio door… no.. SPUD NO DON’T YOU BRING THAT INSIDE!!!  Shit, I gotta go dude.”

 

Beth laughed, choking on her giggles. “Alright, alright, I’ll catch ya later! Love ya, dude.”

  
  


“You too, hun, see ya.”  The phone clicked off.

* * *

 

A day drive and many rest breaks for various snacks and energy drinks finally brought Tevy to Balthazar’s mansion.  As she drove up the long driveway, her heart began to race.  The place hadn’t changed at all, minus the overgrown wildlife surrounding it.  She stepped from her car, Spud and his basket of cats following her up to the door.  She turned the handle, unlocked.  

Tevy stepped into the dark house.  A wave of guilt washed over her.  I can’t stay here… not after what I said to Balty… She walked further into the living room with the bay window.  The couch was still there that had started it all.  The little nook in the corner where they had carried her too and made her feel wanted, told her it was okay and shared themselves with her entirely.

As she stepped over to the couch, she saw something glisten between the pillows.  Spud jumped up on the couch and softly took it between his jaws, handing it to his master.  

Tevy’s heart stopped at the sight of what was written on the silver envelope in her hands.  In flourishy, cursive writing, it said “Tevy”.

“The fuck…” She said to herself, her hands shaking as she tore it open.  Inside was a small card, matching silver, like the envelope.  Slowly she unfolded the card, unknowing of what it may say or who it was from.

Sister Dearest,

I write this note to you with a heavy heart.  I’ve left for good and I fear I will not be returning this time.  I can’t find the words to explain how sorry I am.  I never meant to hurt you.  You were right though, love, stealing holy weapons, not a solid source of income… And I fear this is what did me in for good.  I can only pray that you find your way back home.  I’ve warded the house completely so no one but you and whomever you invite can even see the building and the utilities should all be working as well.  It’s all your’s.  I love you, sweetheart, always have.  Don’t let Heaven find you.

Your Dearest Brother,

B.

 

Tevy fell to the couch, a hand over her mouth as she broke down.  Spud licked her leg attempting to comfort. _God, I miss them… I’m so sorry Balthazar._


End file.
